Image source,Getty Images
Marine fishery resources are dwindling day by day, and there are constant disputes over the fisheries in the English Channel region between Britain and France.
In the second half of 2021, the dispute between Britain and France over fishing rights intensified. The British even gave up on the European Union. Why did they put on a posture of “fishing and breaking their nets” with their neighbor France for the sake of a few fish?
The fishery conflicts that existed before Brexit reflect the intricate relations and contradictions between the UK and the EU over the years.
Industry insiders and senior government officials in the UK and France continue to escalate the latest fisheries disputes. They not only issued tit-for-tat remarks, but also dispatched maritime police, arrested ships, arrested people, and fined them. The fishing disputes have even been raised to threaten energy supply and affect energy supply. The height of the negotiations on the UK and Northern Ireland issue. Britain accused France of violating international law, and the two sides seemed to be on the verge of a large-scale trade war.
Although the leaders of the two sides took the opportunity of French President Macron to attend the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference in the United Kingdom to communicate, the fisheries dispute has slightly cooled down, but this problem has not been fundamentally eliminated.
In fact, whether it is for Britain or France, the economic value involved in fishery disputes in the English Channel and other places is not a big number relative to the GDP of these two important world economies. So, why do you really want to stage a “fishing and killing family” for this?
BBC Chinese focuses on sorting out the domestic, economic and diplomatic conflicts between the UK and the EU in terms of fisheries.
One of the focal points of the trade dispute between Britain and Europe
Fishing rights are one of the key issues in the negotiations between the UK and the EU on a new trade agreement.
The new trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union came into effect on January 1, 2021. Although the United Kingdom has left the European Union, the agreement still allows EU ships to fish in British waters in the next few years, but it gives British ships a larger fishing share. (Or quota).
The question of who has the right to fish in British waters is more complicated, because a large part of the British fishing quota has been sold to foreign (including EU)-owned vessels that sail under the British flag.
The four different regions of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales are also different.
EU Common Fisheries Policy
In order to protect the sustainable development of marine aquatic resources and coordinate the common development of various regions, Europe (including the European Union) has formulated a common fishery policy early on and stipulated fishing quotas for different regions or countries.
Many countries use quotas to manage shared fish stocks. They determine how many fish are allowed to be caught in a school of each species.
The EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) sets quotas among EU member states and negotiates similar agreements with neighboring countries. As early as 1973, the United Kingdom joined the European Community, and it was included in the Common Fishery Policy system.
According to research conducted by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the UK’s 160 million pounds fishing quota is in the hands of ships owned by companies in Iceland, Spain and the Netherlands.
This is equivalent to 130,000 tons of fish per year, accounting for 55% of the annual output value of the 2019 quota.
Image source,Getty Images
The Brexit fishermen’s group asked the government to “maintain national sovereignty.”
Half of England’s quota is in foreign hands
When the United Kingdom was still in the European Union, these quotas were also freely traded by localities according to their own economic needs. However, once the UK leaves the European Union, contradictions will immediately appear on the relevant issues.
The Anglo-French fishery disputes in the fall of 2021 are mainly concentrated in the English Channel, Jessy Island, Guernsey and other waters between England and France. This is directly related to the changes in local fisheries in England in the United Kingdom under the wave of globalization in the past few decades.
In the 1990s, because the European Union drastically reduced fishing rights, fishermen in the UK, especially in England, sold many of their own quotas. For example, cod fishing has almost completely stopped for several years.
The foreign company subsequently acquired these quotas as a long-term investment. Experts believe that since then, the quota market has been allowed to develop in an unregulated manner.
Dr. Emma Cardwell of Nottingham Trent University is an expert in the fisheries market. She said that the legal status of fishing rights after Brexit is unclear, which means that if the British government tries to redistribute quotas, it will be vulnerable to litigation.
She pointed out that any foreign fishery company that has invested in good faith to purchase British quotas is likely to file a lawsuit if they now take these quotas from them.
How to draw the border line of fishery?
For many people in the British fishing industry who support Brexit, the British government’s struggle against the EU on fisheries is not strong enough.
Paul Lanes, a member of the “Fishing Brexit” group that supports Brexit in the British fishing industry, said that if the government allows foreign companies to continue to have more than half of England’s quota, it would be a disaster.
The “Fishing Brexit” organization hopes to change the rules, requiring all British fishing vessels to be “60% British-owned; 60% British; (and must) 60% of the catch must be unloaded, processed and sold in the UK.” .
Lanes was disappointed that the termination of foreign ownership was not mentioned in the trade agreement or negotiation between the British government and the European Union.
Image source,NMUIM / Alamy Stock Photo
A multinational company owned by the Dutch controls one-fifth of Britain’s fishing quota.
An EU source revealed that the Brexit negotiators once insisted that ships must be owned by the UK to obtain greater catches in British waters, but this proposal did not appear in the final text of the EU-UK agreement.
Dr. Cardwell believes that the British government may (albeit administratively difficult) reallocate any newly acquired quotas to British-owned ships.
British regional policy after decentralization
Then why can’t the British government happily develop its own national policy? This is because the situation is different in different parts of the UK.
Since fisheries policy is a decentralized policy in the UK, quota management methods vary across the UK.
England and Wales have a majority vote in favor of Brexit, and both allow foreign countries to have more than half of the fishing quota; in Wales, which accounts for only a small part of the British quota, the problem is relatively simple. Most of the fishing quota consists of one vessel. Large-scale industrialized trawler holds.
But in Scotland, which accounts for about 60% of the fishing quota owned by the United Kingdom, only 4% of the annual industry value in 2019 is in foreign hands; in Northern Ireland, the figure is even lower, at 2%.
Elspeth MacDonald of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation pointed out that the Scottish fisheries are mainly made up of family businesses. These companies have developed the fishing industry when the economic situation is good, and have the desire and determination to persist in the development of this industry when the economic situation is not good.
Foreign fisheries companies in other EU countries and regions
In other European countries and regions, the level of foreign ownership of fisheries varies.
From the perspective of different countries, the proportion of foreign fishery companies in Belgium is currently the highest, about 25.2%. Denmark 18.5%. The overall UK rate is 13.4%.
In France and Ireland, there are few fishing boats owned by foreign countries.
The two countries outside the EU with large fishing fleets, Iceland and Norway, have no foreign ownership at all in their fisheries.
The close relationship between fish and domestic politics
Image source,Reuters
The leaders of Britain and France have their own commitments to their fishermen.
Figures obtained through a joint study by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the New Economy Foundation show that about one-fifth of the annual income value of the UK’s total quota is held by foreign companies, with a total value of slightly more than 900 million pounds.
Whether it is for the United Kingdom or France, the economic value involved in fishery disputes in the English Channel and other places is not a big number relative to the gross domestic product of these two important world economies. So, why do you really want to stage a “fishing and killing family” for this?
Reuters analysis believes that the dispute over fishing rights between Britain and France is not due to the economic importance of fisheries, but is more at the political level.
For the British Johnson government, taking back control of its own fisheries was once a campaign promise. French President Macron is facing the 2022 presidential election. It is an unavoidable political method to stand up for the interests of French fishermen.
Analysts predict that before the UK and EU finally resolve the trade issues including the Northern Ireland trade arrangement, the drama of “fishing and killing homes” in the English Channel may still be difficult to end.