EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement: Fishing Industry

Carla Lockhart Excerpts

Thursday 14th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

The bureaucracy that we are having to fill in is obviously designed by the European Union, and in some cases, on many export health certificates, the form is a generic World Trade Organisation form that has not had a great deal of thought given to it. We think the paperwork could be improved, but we would need the EU to agree to engage with that. For now we have to work with the paperwork that it designates. It is EU bureaucracy, but we are working closely with European countries to get a better understanding of what is required.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP) [V]]

DEFRA’s consultation letter of October 2020 on future quota arrangements contained much emphasis on zonal attachment and how it might be applied at UK level. With a small maritime zone, that would severely disadvantage Northern Ireland as only 20% of our quota holdings are in the Irish sea, and the Irish sea is shared by the UK’s four Administrations, plus the Isle of Man. Discrimination faced by Northern Ireland’s fishermen at the hands of the EU and its Hague preference must not be replaced by a form of discrimination within the United Kingdom. We believe that any departure from the established principle of fixed quota allocation units will disadvantage Northern Ireland’s fishermen. Will the Secretary of State confirm that he will not allow that to happen, and that Northern Ireland’s fishing fleet will receive its share of the additional quota on the basis of its existing fixed quota allocation share?

[George Eustice]

We have made clear that the existing entitlements that people would have had under relative stability will continue to be issued under the legacy FQA units approach, but when we get additional fishing opportunities, we want to be able to allocate those in a different way. We are working closely with all UK Administrations on a fairer sharing arrangement, and we recognise the particular issues in the Irish sea. We are conscious of that, and we are working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive on getting a fair arrangement.