Brexit rebellion: Isle of Man goes rogue on fishing EU ships welcomed in ‘petty’ move – Daily Express

It has emerged the Crown Dependency, which is not part of the UK but often aligns policies and agreements, have had individual discussions with Brussels counterparts regarding fishing.The move has been branded petty and "indefensible" by Environment Secretary George Eustice.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle said any EU vessel that wishes to fish in UK waters in the future will have to prove a track record of fishing in Manx Waters in order to get a licence.

Under the new rules, EU vessels would have to prove a track record of 10 days fishing in any of the three 12-month periods prior to January 2020.

The British Crown Dependency also maintains the right to set its own catch limits and conservation measures for certain fisheries including scallops.

Island fish producers will also be able to import their products to the EU without facing tariffs, which is worth around 20million a year.

UK-registered vessels are already licensed and regulated by the Isle of Man government.

Mr Quayle said the subject of fishing had caused much debate and emotion on the Island.

Speaking in the Tynwald, the Chief Minister said the EU had demanded access to Manx waters stressing without access for bloc vessels, there would be difficulty exporting island goods.

He added: I know that some people would have wanted a future where no foreign vessels were able to fish in our waters.

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But Dr David Beard, chief executive of the Manx Fish Producers Organisation, expressed concerns at the huge amounts of paperwork required to export to the EU.

He said: We are having to spend far more money on paperwork than we did before.

The key is that there is still no hospitality market for our products so it is still going through supermarkets or through other retail and obviously the volume of sales has dropped off mainly because of Covid.

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Brexit rebellion: Isle of Man goes rogue on fishing EU ships welcomed in 'petty' move - Daily Express