The Republic of Ireland is one more piece of the puzzle that is negotiated between the EU and the UK. (Photo: Stock File)

Irish fishing sector shows doubts as to post-Brexit fishing deal benefits

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Friday, November 16, 2018, 01:50 (GMT + 9)

Irish fishermen have expressed concern about the possibility that the fish sector could be left out of the EU-UK customs arrangement currently on the table as negotiators try to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

Front page of the Irish newspaper TheJournal.ie ►

The concern has arisen as currently it looks as though a compromise has been drafted in the form of a UK-wide customs arrangement, which would be “a first cousin” of the Customs Union.

As it was published by the Irish Website The Journal.ie, in the draft deal, there are no new provisions made for fisheries, and will remain under EU rules “…unless an agreement on access to waters and fishing opportunities is applicable between the Union and the United Kingdom”.

However, the Joint Committee will establish the conditions under which certain fishery and aquaculture products brought into the customs territory of the EU by vessels flying the flag of the UK and registered in Northern Ireland are exempted from duties.

In this regard, Sinn Féin Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, who represents fishing communities in Donegal, said that “fishing waters are part of the negotiation chips, to be crude about it”.

“I’m speculating that the Conservative party are trying to find the balance between the Brexiteers and Remainers, and if they throw in a constrictive deal on UK waters, that might swing it in favour of Remainers. So the can is being kicked down the road,” the senator stated.

From the Irish sector, it has been speculated that if the UK decides to “take back” its waters as part of Brexit, it will be an absolute doomsday scenario for EU boats that will be prevented from fishing in UK waters.

According to Conor McCourt, a spokesperson for the Foyle Fisheries Co-Op, located in Greencastle on the edge of Lough Foyle, more than 50 per cent of fish that have been caught in UK waters were by non-UK vessels last year, which, in his view, is mirrored in Ireland.

“The UK import most of what they eat, and export most of what they catch,” McCourt says, adding that the UK exports a huge portion of its fish to EU member states.

For that reason, McCourt isn’t too pessimistic about what the final arrangement will be.

However, Mac Lochlainn says that if the Brexit deal ends up in the “nuclear option” and Irish fishermen have no access to UK waters, it would be “disastrous” in the context of the existing state of play. The industry would have to be compensated by the EU, he says.

Meanwhile, speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, May said that the UK would “take back control of our borders, our laws and our money, leave the Common Fisheries Policy and agricultural policy while protecting jobs, security and the integrity of our United Kingdom”.

While a letter from 13 Scottish Tory MPs, including the Scottish Secretary of State, was hand delivered to May warning against supporting a deal that did not protect fishing rights, McCourt says that his understanding is that nothing is agreed on the catching side or selling side of fisheries yet, and adds that “one of the UK’s strongest cards is fisheries”.

Furthermore, the Irish fishing sector expressed concern about transportation of the fish to Europe as most trade goes from Ireland, through the UK, and then into France and Spain via Calais.

“If Brexit is terrible for agriculture, it is a disaster for fisheries,” Mac Lochlainn concluded.

editorial@seafood.media
www.seafood.media

Print