60 %
On the 1st of February, Cotentin boats were excluded from Guernsey waters, where they make up to 60% of their catches.

1/3
of the sales of the Lorient fish auction depend on the catches of Scapêche in British waters.

A fisheries agreement by July 1st? The goal seems hard to achieve, but it was made clear in the negotiations which started on 2nd of March between the European Union (EU) and the UK. The transitional agreement provides for a standstill until the 31st of December 2020. With a blunder at the outset: French fishermen’s access to Guernsey waters was suspended in the aftermath of Brexit on the 1st of February. But the political mobilization allowed a return to order within a few days.

Mobilisation is also needed to encourage the European negotiators, led by Michel Barnier, who have received their negotiating mandate. Defining the future conditions of access to British waters is no easy task as the initial positions are so far apart. The EU wants reciprocal and sustainable access to the waters, with a stable distribution of quotas. While Boris Johnson and UK Fisheries Minister George Eustice strongly reiterate their wish to act as an independent coastal state, as Norway, Iceland or the Faroe Islands do, by negotiating fishing opportunities annually and setting their own quotas. They have promised this to their fishermen, eager to regain control of their waters teeming with fish.

Equally firmly, Michel Barnier points out that “the fisheries agreement is an inseparable part of the trade agreement”. British access to the European free trade area, where the United Kingdom exports 70 to 75% of its seafood products, is conditional on obtaining the fisheries agreement. If the compromise on fisheries is not reached by the 1st of July, to apply from 1st of January 2021, negotiations will be extended by one or even two years.

In the meantime, one political declaration follows another. Fishing is «an absolute priority» in the negotiations, points out the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian. MEP Pierre Karleskind, who took over the chairmanship of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee on 19th of February following Britain’s Chris Davies, made numerous visits (Boulogne-sur-Mer, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ireland..) to advocate unity. So far the nine countries which make up Eufa, the European coalition, are united.

Solène LE ROUX

Traduction : Catherine ROUSSEY

[ Scapêche, Scotland and Lorient ]

◗ The economic protagonists bring their weight to bear on the negotiators, such as Scapêche, Intermarché’s fishing fleet. “70% of its catches are made in British waters,” recalls its president, Sylvain Pruvost. “Behind that, there are processing and distribution activities, men and women, a real savoir-faire and an economic dynamism for the regions.” Its 8,000 tons of black scabbardfish, ling, saithe, hake, etc., landed in Scotland and repatriated to Lorient by cargo ships and lorries, account for more than a third of the auction sales. Which overall depends 50% on British waters.