Leading Journal of the Irish & UK Fishing Industries

Elspeth Macdonald, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said: “Amid all the rumours and speculation, we have been clear from the outset that the industry only seeks the same sorts of arrangements that the EU has with other coastal states – full control of access to our waters, fairer quota shares based on zonal attachment and annual negotiations on access and fishing opportunities. No more and no less than the EU has with others.
“If any of these ‘offers’ are accurate, then in terms of percentages and length of transition period, they are utterly derisory and totally unacceptable to the Scottish fishing fleet. Repatriating only 35% of the EU’s landings to the UK phased in over a period of several years would be a terrible deal for the fishing industry.
“And you cannot have sovereign control over your fishing waters with one hand tied behind your back. The UK would be a coastal state in name only. This is not what we were promised, and only last week the Prime Minister made the same point at PMQs.
“If this is indeed what is on the table, then the Prime Minister and his Government will have completely betrayed the promises they have made repeatedly, in public and in private, to our industry.”