BOULOGNE-SUR-MER, France, Jan 30 (Reuters) – For the British government, a successful Brexit means re-asserting economic sovereignty and landing a trade deal with Europe. Trawler captain Stephane Fait and his fellow French fisherman could sink that plan.
Based in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France’s busiest fishing port and a major European processing centre, Fait and his crew earn the bulk of their income from fish caught in British waters.
In negotiations on a post-Brexit trade deal that get underway after Britain’s Jan. 31 exit from the European Union, Britain will say EU vessels like Fait’s Notre Dame de Boulogne trawler no longer have automatic access to British waters.
But French fishermen won’t accept that and they have leverage: pressuring Brussels via French President Emmanuel Macron to withhold the trade deal unless Britain lets EU trawlers fish its waters.
“Macron mustn’t give an inch to Britain,” the captain said as his crew unloaded 2 tonnes of squid, red mullet and whiting this week.....MORE
Fait, 50, said his livelihood was at risk and wants Macron to retaliate against any restrictions imposed by London with a ban on British-caught fish entering the EU.
The fishing row shows how just one small industry – which plays a tiny economic role but has outsize political influence – can undo Britain’s ambitions of landing a wider deal that preserves its access to European markets.
British fishing grounds are among the richest in the North East Atlantic zone where most of the EU catch is hauled in. Current rules allow EU boats to fish as close as six nautical miles to Britain’s coast, but once it leaves the bloc its exclusive economic zone will reach as far as 200 miles offshore.
If no new accord is reached, Fait will not be allowed to fish beyond a line down the middle of the English Channel separating French and British territorial waters.
It would be “very, very grave” if French boats were banned from British waters, French Farm Minister Didier Guillaume told Reuters. “There could be reprisal measures.”
COMPETING INTERESTS
Regaining control of Britain’s waters was a totem for Brexit campaigners. British fishermen say too many concessions were made when Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973....
Previously:
December 25, 2019
UK Sets Collision Course With France by Equipping Itself to Fend off Illegal EU Fishers – Report
August 2019
Former Maritime Power, Great Britain, Won't Have Enough Ships To Monitor Post-Brexit EU Fishing Fleets
Possibly relevant:
"How Iceland Beat the British in the Four Cod Wars"
