The U.K. government has come under fire from UK Fisheries CEO Jane Sandell for letting down English fishers in its bilateral agreement with Norway covering 2023 fishing opportunities.
UK Fisheries operates the freezer trawler Kirkella and the fresh fish trawler Farnella.out of the port of Hull, U.K., fishing for cod and haddock. Since Brexit, UK Fisheries has been calling for the return of a larger quota. In 2019, it fished almost 15,000 MT off the coasts of Norway and Svalbard, but now has just half of that.
In its mid-November announcement publicizing its agreement with Norway, the U.K. Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the country’s fishing industry would benefit from increased fishing opportunities worth nearly GBP 5 million (USD 5.9 million, EUR 5.8 million), with the deal securing access to 30,000 metric tons (MT) of whitefish stocks, including cod, haddock, and hake in the North Sea. It also grants each party access to fish up to 20,000 MT of herring in respective waters and allows 1,100 MT of quota transfers from Norway of key U.K. stocks. The U.K. fleet also gets 750 MT of cod quota in Norway’s Arctic waters.
Sandell said the latest agreement with Norway had dealt “another body blow” to fisheries workers in the Northeast U.K.
“It’s an absolute travesty of fairness and common sense. The few extra tons of whitefish in the Norwegian zone won’t come close to offsetting the loss in Svalbard due to the reduced TAC. Defra knows this and yet they simply don’t seem to care about the English fleet. Right now, and not for the first time, the only people celebrating will be the Scottish pelagic barons,” she said. “Defra claims to be looking after all sectors of the industry but it has repeatedly and deliberately discriminated against distant-water fishing, blaming this on the fact that UK Fisheries has foreign owners – even though we represent one of the few parts of the industry that is making significant investments in and broader contributions to the British economy. It’s as if they don’t understand, or want to understand, the importance of foreign investment or what we contribute to the British economy. So much for the post-Brexit 'sea of opportunity.'"
UK Fisheries is a 50-50 joint venture between Samherji and Parleviet & Van Der Plas.
Photo courtesy of U.K. Fisheries
