Brexit could be good news for fisheries if negotiations are thoughtfully handled
BACK in 1973 when Edward Heath was desperate to get Great Britain into what was then called the European Economic Community, he committed one of the greatest acts of treachery in British history. At the time Great Britain owned some 80% of all the European fisheries and Heath agreed to sign it over as a common European fishing area as the price to join the EEC. He lied to the country and the deal was kept secret for 10 years until it came into force. That led to the formation of the Common Fisheries Policy and the decimation of the British fishing industry, the rest is history.
Little has been said about this during the Brexit Referendum campaign, but leaving the EU means that all the British fisheries return to Britain. Spain and France will scream the house down and I am very concerned that the new prime minister may cede access to the newly recovered fisheries during the Brexit negotiations.
Outside the EU, Britain has the right to all fishing in an Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 miles from the shoreline. Where the EEZ conflicts with that of another state there is an agreed boundary half way between adjacent land masses.
Within the United Kingdom, Scotland, because of its extensive coastline, would recover the majority of the UK fisheries. That would enable them to create a very major fishing industry, which they would hardly want to lose by leaving the UK, rejoining the EU and giving it all back.
Applying the 200-mile EEZ rule to the Bailiwick would give us an enormous extension of our fisheries, mainly to the west and far greater than that which would fall to Jersey. We would then be able to prevent French pair trawlers from decimating our bass stocks to the west of the Bailiwick. We would then enjoy a very substantial increase in our fishing industry and port activity.
I want our new government to be very well aware of this opportunity and to make sure that the UK does not trade away access to our newly recovered waters unless it is specifically to the substantial advantage of the Bailiwick.
It is highly likely that Spain will increase pressure on the UK over Gibraltar and may feel constrained to provide Spanish boats some access to the newly recovered fisheries as part of those negotiations.
That is of no benefit to Guernsey and the UK government must be advised that they do not have the right to trade away any access to our newly recovered fisheries.
R. F. WHARTON,
Chairman,
Boatworks+ Ltd,
Castle Emplacement,
St Peter Port,
GY1 1AU.
