Brexit - very fishy

 One of the problems that is holding up the conclusion of a trade deal between the UK and the EU is fishing rights. 

The UK wants to 'take back control'. That is the whole point of Brexit. And taking back control includes the control over who gets to fish in British waters. That should be the prerogative of British fisherfolk only. Foreigners keep out!

The EU wants to keep the status quo, to continue doing what it's been doing for the last few decades. The British are adamant that that will not be possible.

Now, in terms of national wealth, marine fishing accounts for 0.04% of gross value added  and fishing ports around the UK employ only 12,000 people.  (Source: https://www.euronews.com/2020/10/15/brexit-and-fishing-rights-will-battle-for-control-of-seas-torpedo-trade-deal).

EU fishermen get about 60% of their fish from British waters.

The thing is, though, that what the British fishermen catch at sea and what the EU fishermen catch at sea are vastly different.

Here's an excerpt from a Guardian article: "Furthermore, the UK imports almost twice as much fish as it exports, with the top five being cod, tuna, prawns, salmon and haddock. 

I think haddock might be found in British waters, but the rest aren't. They are much further out from the shore than the waters under UK control. In return, the Continentals are very fond of herring, unlike the British. I suppose they'll have to develop a taste for them now.

As The Guardian points out: "The impact of a hard Brexit on trade would make these [the five types of seafood mentioned above] more expensive, the researchers found. The impact would also hit UK fish farms, which export most of their products, and the fish processing industry, which relies on imports.

“While the domestic fish price goes down, the price of the imported fish goes up quite a lot,” said Heleen Bartelings at WUR. “There is also an impact on [farmed fish] and processed fish products – both become more expensive. So it is only a small part of the UK fish sector that is less expensive and the rest is more expensive.”"

Read more about this madness here: 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/24/hard-brexit-would-mean-more-and-cheaper-british-fish-but-theres-a-catch

and here

https://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/press/eu-fish-market-2019-edition-out-everything-you-wanted-know-about-eu-market-fish-and-seafood_en#:~:text=Which%20are%20the%20fishes%20most,of%20total%20volumes%20in%202017.

And because of this, there is a risk that the UK will crash out of the EU on 1 January with no deal. 

What happened to the 'easiest deal in history'?