The Fisheries Bill re-introduced to Parliament in 2020 aims to enable the UK to take powers to operate as an independent coastal state after Brexit; to withdraw from the Common Fisheries Policy, and to control access, by licensing external vessels, to UK fisheries within the UK’s 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone.

The UK’s arrangements for fishing will come under enormous pressure in its forthcoming trade talks with the EU, which has indicated a willingness to try to link fisheries access to unrelated subjects such as trade in financial services – characterised in an FT podcast as “haddock for the derivatives market”. Part of the UK’s catch is placed on the EU market, which renders it vulnerable to trade pressures, while the UK fleet also needs reciprocal access to non-British waters in the EU and Norway.

Like other Brexit legislation concerning the environment, common themes are finding new structures to replace EU frameworks; the establishment of national standards and the need for that to be informed by science; the practical importance of enforcement; the impact of devolution; and the impact of trade talks on all of the above.

For further information on our reading of this and other Brexit environmental legislation, please contact William Wilson on +44(0)1225-730-407 or email <info@wyesideconsulting.com>