Brexit fishing outrage: How UK could have followed Norway’s path and protected its waters – Express

Before the negotiations on a future trade deal between the UK and Brussels started, the French government made it clear to the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier that he had to push for stronger commitments on regulatory alignments and access to UK fishing waters in return for maintaining free trade. Ever since the 2016 EU referendum, French President Emmanuel Macron has been championing the blocs fisheries demands. In 2018, he suggested that if the UK was unwilling to compromise in negotiations on fishing, then talks on a wider trade deal would have been slow.

And in February, the Frenchman claimed he was willing to put up a fight over the issue.

Despite Mr Macron's hardline stance, the UK insists any fishing agreement must be separate from the trade deal with access negotiated annually in a similar fashion to Norways agreement with the bloc.

Norway is an independent coastal state, with the rights and responsibilities under international law associated with that status. Stocks shared with the EU are managed through annual bilateral negotiations. Each autumn these talks set total allowable catches on the basis of scientific advice.

Quota shares are then agreed to reflect the resources within each others respective zones, rather than historic catch patterns. Likewise, access to fish in each others waters is not an automatic right but is part of the annual negotiations. Quota exchanges of mutual benefit can also take place.

Above all, the agreement is reciprocal and balanced, meaning that both parties benefit more or less equally.

This contrasts starkly with the current position of the UK fishing industry within the EUs Common Fisheries Policy.

Britain's desire to adopt Norway's model could be seen as ironic, though, as in the early Seventies, London could have struck an agreement similar to the one it is now asking for.

In a report for the Brexit think tank 'Red Cell' titled 'Putting The Fisheries Negotiations Into Context' and published in March, former Grimsby MP and Brexit campaigner Austin Mitchell recalled how the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was cobbled together as Britain and Norway began negotiations to enter the Common Market in 1969.

He wrote: "The intention behind it was to get access to British and Norwegian waters.

"Norway rejected the proposal, but Ted Heath agreed to it in his desperation to get into the Market, assuming that British waters werent important because most of our catch then came from Iceland."

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Brexit fishing outrage: How UK could have followed Norway's path and protected its waters - Express