By Jonathan Silberman April 19, 2021
Militant/Jonathan SilbermanAndrés Mendoza, left, Communist League candidate for London mayor, talks to Lee Colgan March 12 in Hastings, south of London. Colgan, a small fishing boat crewman, said because of U.K., EU restrictions, he “can’t make a living as a fisherman” and has to work a second job.
HASTINGS, England “The first thing you need to know is that the commercial fishing industry is divided between those fishing from boats shorter or longer than 10 meters,” Paul Joy told Andrés Mendoza, Communist League candidate for London mayor when they met here March 12. Joy has fished off the south coast of England for 48 years and is the chair of the Hastings Fishermen’s Protection Society.
| UPDATED: 21:28, Tue, Mar 9, 2021
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Boris Johnson ‘sacrificed fishing industry’ says June Mummery Sign up to receive our rundown of the day s top stories direct to your inbox
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Boris Johnson s Brexit deal allows European boats access to the seas of the UK coast until June 2026 when negotiations on future fishing rights will resume again. But British skippers claim the deal stacks the cards against them with huge European trawlers still plundering fishing stocks and warned the industry could collapse before the existing deal expires.
Of all the Brexit issues, fishing was arguably the most symbolic.
The UK fleet felt they had everything to gain and almost nothing to lose so how have they done?
The picture is mixed and everyone is using the caveat of let’s see the detail but the sense from the industry in the UK tonight is that it’s “not a sellout but not a Christmas bonanza either”.
The UK fleet will get more share of the quota over the next five years, 15% more in 2021 rising each year hitting 25% in five years time, at which point the UK will achieve full independent coastal status and will decide who gets what in further negotiations.
David Stevens is a trawler skipper in Newlyn, he told ITV News: On the whole negotiators did well… good amounts of quota repatriated”.
| UPDATED: 09:20, Sun, Dec 20, 2020
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Lord Frost and Michel Barnier’s respective teams will continue talks in Brussels on Sunday in a bid to close the huge gaps on fisheries and the so-called level playing field – the main obstacles to a deal. A UK Government source said the bloc would need to make a “substantial shift” for a deal to be agreed, adding: We cannot accept a deal that doesn t leave us in control of our own laws or waters.”
By Harry Holmes2020-12-15T10:17:00+00:00
Fishing remains one of the outstanding issues in the UK-EU negotiations
Food businesses are increasingly concerned over threats from French fishermen that goods will be blockaded from entering Europe if a no-deal Brexit excludes their boats from operating in UK waters.
Dimitri Rogoff, president of Normandy’s regional fisheries committee, told French radio on Monday his members would stop ferries carrying British goods entering French ports if they are prohibited from entering UK waters next year. Rogoff added he would expect Dutch and Belgian fishermen to do the same.
The threat has exacerbated existing concerns among some British businesses who fear French fishermen may take actions into their own hands. Richard Hampton, MD of Omsco dairy co-op, said the risk of a blockade was “very much underestimated”, with the business already planning to halt exports to Europe from Boxing Day, for at least the first few weeks of the year.