UK exit from fishing deal ‘unhelpful’

MINISTER for Agriculture Michael Creed has said the UK’s withdrawal from an arrangement allowing other countries to fish in British waters is ‘unwelcome and unhelpful’.

British ministers will trigger an exit from the London Fisheries Convention, signed in 1964 before the UK joined the EU, to start the two-year process to leave the agreement.

The convention allows vessels from Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands to fish within six and 12 nautical miles of the UK’s coastline.

Yesterday, Mr Creed – the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine – said: ‘Today’s announcement by the UK government is unwelcome and unhelpful. It is a part of Brexit and will be considered by the EU 27 member states and the (Michel) Barnier team when the negotiations commence.’

The convention grants rights to neighbouring countries to fish in each other’s fishing zones. Ireland’s fishing fleet has access to parts of the zone within six and 12 nautical miles of the UK, as has the UK fleet to parts of the Irish zone.

These access rights were incorporated into the EU Common Fisheries Policy.

Mr Creed added: ‘Brexit poses very serious challenges to the seafood sector and this announcement will form part of the negotiations.’

Seán O’Donoghue, CEO of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation, said it is an aggressive measure by the British. ‘We are not surprised, we did expect it,’ he said. ‘The access for us is Change: Fishing boats at Hastings, England huge but the access between six and 12 is not our greatest priority – our access is between the 12-mile limit and 200-mile UK-wide limit. That is the important one.’

The EU Common Fisheries Policy allows all European countries access between 12 and 200 nautical miles of the UK and sets quotas for how many fish member nations can catch.