In a message to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation warns that the UK government must not gamble away the future of Scottish fishing businesses by using the industry as a bargaining chip in negotiations to improve relations with the EU.
‘The Scottish fishing industry has twice in the past been regarded as expendable by British Prime Ministers when it comes to Europe,’ warned SFF chief executive Elspeth Macdonald.
‘We must not have a repeat of 1973 when the condition of entry to the EEC was that our richly endowed fishing waters be pooled with other members, or of 2020 when the Brexit agreement, while restoring the UK to the status of sovereign coastal state, granted continued access to our waters to EU vessels to catch far more fish in our waters than they catch in their own.’
She stated that the 2020 Brexit deal left the UK in a situation that no other independent coastal state would countenance – allowing unfettered access to another’s fishing fleet and pointing out that reciprocal access is heavily loaded in the EU’s favour.
‘Giving up rights to decide who fishes in our EEZ, and when and how, would be a betrayal of UK sovereignty. We don’t give the EU access to the UK EEZ to build windfarms or extract oil and gas, so why would we give away our hugely valuable fisheries resources?’
Elspeth Macdonald emphasised that the SFF preference is not for a long-term access agreement with the EU but annual negotiations as per the international norm, and indeed what the Brexit deal sets out will apply after 2026, and urged the Prime Minister to push for payment for any long-term access for the EU fleet to UK waters.
She stressed that the UK and its devolved administrations should have complete discretion over how fisheries are managed within the UK EEZ and that market access must not be a condition of a long-term fisheries access arrangements.
‘There must be no concessions given to the EU on the UK’s right to make its own decisions about fisheries management. We now have a robust legal framework in place in the UK for fisheries management through the UK Fisheries Act, and Fisheries Management Plans are being developed,‘ Elspeth Macdonald said.
‘Any concessions on this that would suck the UK back into even the outer reaches of the CFP’s orbit would be a significantly backwards step. In addition, the UK must not allow itself to be threatened by the EU on market access. No other fisheries agreement in the north-east Atlantic couples access to fisheries with access to markets, and the UK Government must resist this strongly.’
