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A catch-all plan for post-Brexit fishing
Politico skriver:
The UK wants to work with the EU on its long-term strategy for the North Sea.
The European Commission first proposed the North Sea multiannual plan for iconic species such as cod, haddock and sole in 2016. The legislation sets the outer limits within which quotas for fishing would be set, as well as bringing in sustainability measures such as the landing obligation, which requires fishermen to return all of their catch to shore.
MEPs will vote on the plan tomorrow, but despite Brexit, there will be no British spanner in the works.
“Not the whole sea belongs to the U.K. When we take back control, there will still be EU waters in the North Sea. In our view it would be impractical and crazy to have an EU plan and a U.K. plan for a bit of North Sea waters,” said a British official working on the U.K.’s position.
That might sound like an argument for agreeing North Sea fishing quotas as part of the EU. But Environment Secretary Michael Gove has vowed to make post-Brexit fishing in U.K. waters more sustainable than under the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy.
“As we negotiate our exit from the European Union, I am determined to secure the best possible deal, making sure we have a sustainable and profitable industry for today’s fishermen and the next generation,” he told fishermen in Peterhead, Scotland in June.
But Scottish fishermen hoping to be allowed greater catches post Brexit are likely to be disappointed. “Scotland may be less happy about this than the U.K. overall, but this is the U.K. government position,” said the U.K. official. “We pushed very hard during the reforms for multiannual plans for all the various EU waters and even though we are leaving, we are still very much in favor of getting these plans agreed,” said the official, while conceding that the plan “might tie us down post Brexit.”
An EU official from a smaller fishing country confirmed that U.K. diplomats had been promoting the plan in Brussels and suggested this could be because they don’t want it to get snarled up in the wider Brexit talks. “It is more predictable to adopt the North Sea plan under the EU than trying to negotiate it later on as part of a Brexit deal,” the official said, adding that otherwise, it would leave the U.K. in a “weaker position.”
Taking back control of U.K. waters may mean more cooperation with the EU than British fishermen had expected.
Länk till nyheten i original: http://www.politico.eu/article/brexit-negotiation-scotland-fishing-a-catch-all-plan/