Flotilla of fury on Tyne
Reporter A FLOTILLA of vessels sailed down the River Tyne as part of a protest at six UK ports against what has been described as the “betrayal” of the UK fishing industry in Brexit talks.
They mustered at around 9.30am in North Shields yesterday and made their way to Newcastle Quayside.
From there they set off under the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and back towards North Shields, where they dispersed around 3pm.
It was organised by the Fishing for Leave group and other protests took place simultaneously in Whitstable, Hastings, Portsmouth, Milford Haven and Plymouth with around 200 boats taking part.
The fishing industry is furious that as part of the transition deal which comes into effect on March 29 next year after Brexit, EU boats will still be able to fish in UK waters until 2021.
It views this as the worst-case scenario for them as it effectively means the UK remaining part of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) – which the industry hates – but without a direct say in its rules.
And they point to the fact in March, Environment Secretary Michael Gove told the fishing industry the UK would effectively become an independent coastal state after Brexit.
Fishing for Leave spokesman Alan Hastings said: “Fishermen are sickened and enraged our Government has capitulated to obeying all EU law after Brexit.”
The group described the transition agreement as a “death sentence for what’s left of the British fishing industry”.
It said the EU will be free to enforce and impose detrimental rules on us to cull what’s left of the UK fleet.
It would allow the EU to use international law, UNCLOS Article 62.2, which says if a nation no longer has the capacity to catch its own resources, it must give the surplus to its neighbours.
The EU would be free to easily eradicate what is left of our fleet and has every incentive to do so, it says.
On its website, the group said: “The vote to leave was a godsend to our struggling industry and communities.
“It provided a golden opportunity to automatically repatriate all our waters and resources, worth £6-8 billion, and to start new policy to rejuvenate our coastal communities and industry.”
However now the fishing industry faces being “trapped in the disastrous CFP until January 2021, and possibly trapped forever in exchange for a deal trade”.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it had negotiated that the UK’s share of catch could not be reduced over the transition period, which was about “delivering a smooth and orderly Brexit”.
“It is now important we focus on the significant prize at the end of the implementation period: the arrangements will only apply to negotiations in 2019 – by December 2020 we will be negotiating fishing opportunities as an independent coastal state completely outside the Common Fisheries Policy,” said Defra.
“This means that for the first time in over 40 years, we will be able to decide who can access our waters and on what terms.”