For more information contact Trevor Datson, +44 7940 571323, trevor.datson@etoilepartners.com
News: UK government sinks British distant-waters fleet
29 April 2021Failure in Norway talks to cost hundreds of Humberside jobs
The UK government has failed to land a fishing access deal with Norway that would have allowed the British distant-waters fleet to keep working. Consequently the UK has no rights to fish in Norwegian sub-Arctic waters in 2021 and hundreds of crewmen have no work.
“This is a very black day for Britain,” said UK Fisheries CEO Jane Sandell. “George Eustice owes our crews and the Humberside region an explanation as to why Defra was unable even to maintain the rights we have had to fish in Norwegian waters for decades, never mind land the boasts of a ‘Brexit Bonus’, which has turned to disaster.
“In consequence, there will be no British-caught Arctic cod sold through chippies for our national dish – it will all be imported from the Norwegians, who will continue to sell their fish products to the UK tariff-free while we are excluded from these waters. Quite simply, this is a disgrace and a national embarrassment.”
The board of UK Fisheries will now meet to decide what presence it can have in Hull with no viable fishing opportunities in its traditional grounds. UK Fisheries has invested approximately £180m over the past 20 years in the Humberside fishing industry, and had planned further investment of up to £100m.
British politicians have failed to land a single bilateral deal with any of its traditional partners around the North Atlantic – The Faroes, Greenland, Iceland and now Norway.
UK Fisheries employed approximately 100 crewmen in the economically-deprived Hull region, and supported many hundreds more jobs with suppliers and in downstream industries.
“The UK wanted to be an independent coastal state, but the only beneficiaries of Brexit will turn out to be a handful of Scottish pelagic fishing barons,” Jane Sandell said. “Everyone else – including much of the UK domestic fleet and the people who work in it, will lose out.”
Contact:
Trevor Datson
trevor.datson@etoilepartners.com
M. 07940 571323
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