The European Fisheries Alliance (EUFA), a new coalition of European fishing fleets expecting to be directly impacted by the United Kingdom’s departure from the E.U., has urged E.U. negotiators to ensure that fisheries ranks among the priority areas when the negotiation mandate is issued to the European Commission (EC).
EUFA was launched this week in Brussels at the “Safeguarding access to U.K. waters: what (hard) Brexit means for EU fishing fleets and jobs” roundtable. The event was led by MEP and Chairman of the European Parliament Fisheries Committee, Alain Cadec, and key topics included the challenges of a hard Brexit for the EU-27 fisheries sector; the negotiation of a deal that can benefit both the E.U. and the U.K. fishing sector and coastal communities; and the interdependency of the EU and U.K. markets when it comes to the trading of fisheries products.
The new body represents some of the fleets and coastal communities that will be most directly impacted by Brexit, especially under a “hard Brexit” scenario whereby the United Kingdom could deny access to its waters and the E.U. market access conditions would become more restrictive.
EUFA further stressed that it was essential for the E.U. and the United Kingdom to define a long-term post-Brexit agreement that benefits both European and the British industry as well as the sustainability of fishing stocks.
“It is clear the E.U. and British fishing industry are entwined like no other sector. We share a limited resource, we share fishing grounds and markets. Mutual access and historical catch shares have governed our industries for centuries. And the numbers speak for themselves: one-third of EUFA’s catches comes from U.K. waters, two-thirds of British seafood exports are destined to the European market,” it said in a statement.
EUFA Chairman, Gerard van Balsfoort, said that any exit agreement would have far reaching consequences, both economic and social, for fishermen and fishing communities.
“Our initial analysis shows that in case of a “hard Brexit” scenario, up to 6,100 jobs could be lost across the fisheries sector.
“For this reason, the European Fisheries Alliance believes that it is essential to have fisheries included in the mandate given by the Council to European Commission as it starts its negotiations with the United Kingdom. We have already offered our support to the EU negotiators to ensure that our concerns are being understood, in particular that any exit agreement guarantees mutual access to traditional fishing grounds, preserves the current distribution of TAC and quotas and provides for a long-term responsible fisheries management framework,” said van Balsfoort.
Assuring roundtable participants that the E.U. negotiators would take the concerns of the industry seriously, Cadec said, “There is no question that we could grant the United Kingdom access to the European market without tariffs on their fisheries products if they do not provide our vessels access to their waters.”
EUFA consists of national organizations from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden. It accounts for more than 18,000 fishermen and 3,500 vessels with an annual turnover of EUR 20.7 billion (USD 22.3 billion).
