From the complexity of Europe’s fishing rules and the difficulty Britain has in breaking free from them, to the UK potentially using its leverage to get a better deal on other issues, it’s not hard to see why haggling over fish presents the Brexit negotiations in microcosm.
“We’re worried about the survival of the industry’’ in Ireland, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said in an interview in Brussels, underscoring the value of retaining access to British waters. “The industry would be decimated if we don’t get the proper outcome from Brexit.’’
His words are a telling reminder of why the Brexit bargaining won’t just come down to money and trade. With UK Prime Minister Theresa May gearing up to activate Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty tomorrow, sparking two years of negotiations over Britain’s divorce from the bloc, her team is about to be confronted with a long series of thorny issues that dive deep into the intricacies of the European relationship —from airline traffic to supply chains to the handling of nuclear material.
Like many of the problems in the Brexit negotiations, the complications on fishing stem from the way EU nations have pooled sovereignty over decades. The Common Fisheries Policy entitles all 28 nations to fish in what otherwise would be each other’s national waters. To safeguard fish stocks and protect jobs in fishing areas, each country is given annual geographical quotas for the amount of every species its boats are allowed to catch. The pro-Brexit camp seizes on figures such as those that show only 32% of fish landed from British waters is caught by UK boats, according to a study published in January by the University of the Highlands and Islands.
Britain’s withdrawal from the EU’s fishing rules would mean that it could regain authority over an expanse of sea that stretches 200 nautical miles from its coast. If Brexit talks break down, the UK is prepared to block access to a smaller area between six and 12 nautical miles from shore to which it has allowed vessels from some EU countries since 1964 but isn’t obliged to under the EU’s fisheries policy, according to the Times newspaper last week. Ireland says it has tried to forge a united front with the countries: Spain, France, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.
But when it comes to trade in fish, the UK needs the EU as much as the other way round. Of the 666,000 tonnes of fish the UK produced in 2014, only 166,000 tonness were kept for domestic consumption. It exported two-thirds of the rest to the EU.