Spain, although affected, is not as badly affected as other European partners
The United Kingdom's exit from the European Union finally materialized on the last day of 2020. The compromise on fisheries was the last point of the arduous negotiations and the differences were only overcome some conference before the unpostponable deadline. The fisheries agreement reached provides that for five and a half years EU vessels will continue to have access to fish in British waters. Although affected, Spain is not as adversely affected as other European partners.
Fishing fleet in the Galician town of Ribeira [Luis Miguel Bugallo].
article / Ane Gil
The agreement Withdrawal that culminated the Brexit ran aground in its final stretch on the fisheries issue, despite the fact that the UK's fishing activity in its waters contributes only 0.12% of British GDP.
That discussion, which nearly derailed the negotiations, centered on the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the area beyond territorial waters - at a maximum distance from the coast of 200 nautical miles (about 370 kilometers) - in which a coastal country has sovereign rights to explore and exploit, conserve and manage natural resources, whether living or non-living. The UK EEZ contains fish-rich fishing grounds, accounting for, with a average of 1,285 million tonnes of fish per year, according to a 2019 study by the European Parliament's Fisheries Committee, 15% of total EU fisheries. Of these catches, only 43% was taken by British fishermen, while the remaining 57% was taken by the other EU countries. The European countries that had access to fishing in British waters were Spain, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Sweden.
Therefore, the entrance in force of the Brexit would mark the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Common Fisheries Policy, which defines the access of European vessels to the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Initial perspectives
During its membership of the EU, the UK was part of the Common Fisheries Policy, whereby all EU member states' fishing fleets have equal access to European waters. In the EU, fishing rights are negotiated annually by the ministers of each member state and national quotas (amount of fish of each species that each country's fleet can catch) are set using data historical as reference letter.
The Spanish fishing fleet followed the negotiations closely, as it had a lot to lose with a bad agreement. On the one hand, a Brexit without agreement could mean a reduction in income of 27 million euros related to fishing in British waters; it would also entail a drastic reduction in catches of hake, roosterfish and mackerel for Spanish fishing vessels specialized in these species. On the other hand, the employment would also be affected if the agreement established a drastic reduction in catches. There are eighty Spanish vessels that have licence to fish in British waters, which means almost 10,000 work jobs related to this activity.
Negotiations
Until Brexit, British waters and their exploitation were negotiated jointly with the rest of the maritime areas of the European Union. Brussels tried to maintain this relationship even if the UK left the EU, so the position of the European negotiators focused on preserving the fishing quota system that had been in place, for a term of fifteen years. However, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, always ruled out any trade agreement that would grant European vessels access to British waters, in exchange for better conditions for British financial services in the single market as offered by Brussels. London wanted to implement a regime similar to the Norwegian one, which negotiates year by year the catches of EU fleets in its waters, with the difference that in the Norwegian case the pact refers to average dozen species, compared to almost a hundred in British waters.
We should bear in mind that the service sector accounts for 80% of the UK's GDP, while fishing activities are only 0.12%. Therefore, it is quite evident that London's positions in the fisheries section were more political than economic. And the fact is that, although fishing activities have little impact on the British Economics , the fishing sector does have political importance for the Eurosceptic cause, since regaining control of the waters was one of the promises in the Brexit referendum. Thus, this issue became a symbol of national sovereignty.
The starting point of the negotiations was the British government's demand to repatriate up to 80% of the catch in its waters of control, while the EU offered refund to the UK between 15% and 18%. Johnson wanted to maintain the management of the exploitation of its waters and negotiate with the European Union as partner preferential. He expressed his initial intention to establish, from January 2021, more frequent negotiations on how to fish in his EEZ. This resulted in a finalagreement which implies that European vessels will continue to be able to fish in British waters for five and a half years, in exchange for refund 25% of the quotas that EU vessels fish there, a volume estimated to be worth some 161 million euros. In exchange, fishery products will continue to enter the European market at zero tariff. After this transitional stage, the EU and the UK will have to renegotiate year after year. If the agreement is violated, there are mechanisms that guarantee compensation, such as the establishment of tariffs.
Consequences for Spain and its European neighbors
The agreement provoked discontent in the UK fishing industry, which accused Johnson of caving in on this agreement. The National Federation of Fishermen's Organizations expressed disappointment that only marginal changes had been made to quotas and that EU fleets would continue to have access to UK waters up to the six-mile limit. The prime minister responded that the UK could now catch "prodigious amounts of extra fish".
At the moment, the UK has already encountered some problems. The new customs agreement has been causing delays and trucks have to be checked at the borders. With a sudden glut of production, there will not be enough veterinarians to make the necessary export health certificates. Therefore, the new bureaucratic requirements has led to several cases of seafood rotting on the docks before it can be exported to the EU. It is estimated that the fishing industry is losing 1 million pounds per day due to these new requirements, which has caused many fishermen to reduce their daily catches.
But EU fishermen will also be affected, as until now they obtained catches in British waters with a total annual value of 650 million euros, according to the European Parliament, especially at position from Danish, Dutch and French vessels. In addition, Belgium is one of the countries most affected, as 43% of its catches are taken in British waters; it will now have to reduce its catches by 25% over the next 5 years. In addition, Belgian fishermen used to land their fish in British ports and then truck it to Belgium. However, this will no longer be possible. Along with Belgium, other countries that will suffer the most from the loss of fishing rights due to Brexit are Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands.
As for Spain, the fishing sector has acknowledged its unease about the annual negotiation that will take place after the initial five-year period, as well as the consequences on the future distribution of the rest of the fishing quotas, on the Common Fisheries Policy itself, on the exchange of quotas between countries and on the sustainable management of marine stocks. However, in the short term the Spanish fleet does not seem to be so affected in comparison with other European countries.
In fact, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, valued positively this agreement, considering it a "good agreement, which provides stability and legal certainty". Planas argued that the 25% reduction in the average value of the catches of the eight European countries fishing in British waters has limited effects on Spanish fishing activity and, by way of example, he stated that hake catches will only be reduced by 1%. That is, the current quota of 29.5% would drop to 28.5% in 2026. In addition, other species of greater interest to Spain (such as mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting) have not been included in the agreement and there are no reductions in deep-water species in high demand (such as black scabbardfish or grenadiers). In conclusion, Planas stated that Spain has only conceded on 17 of the 32 fishing resources that the country has been allocated. However, it is up to Brussels to go into details and decide on fishing quotas during the transition period opened on January 1, in which the eight countries fishing in British waters will have lower quotas.
In conclusion, Britain now has the ability to dictate its own rules at subject on fishing. By 2026, the UK can decide to completely withdraw access for EU vessels to British waters. But the EU could then respond by suspending access to its waters or imposing tariffs on UK fish exports.
