This article is an on-site version of our The State of Britain newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every week. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newsletters
When politicians in the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign promised to “take back control” of the UK’s borders, for the fishing industry this extended 12 nautical miles beyond the country’s coastline.
That is because under an international treaty signed in 1964 the UK’s territorial waters were set. This boundary has been a source of tension between the UK fishing industry and European capitals ever since. Fishers were hoping after the UK left the EU restrictions would be tightened on European boats and UK quota rules relaxed. The agreement signed in May between Sir Keir Starmer’s government and Brussels dashed those hopes.
The deal extends the current agreement ending next year for a further 12 years and retains the quotas. The decision to allow EU boats to continue fishing in UK waters cleared the way for a wide-ranging deal that included a defence and security pact and the promised removal of much red tape for British farm exports and energy trading with the EU.
The agreement was hailed by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen as “historic” and Starmer said it would generate £9bn of economic benefits for the country and allow the UK to move past the “stale old debates” surrounding Brexit. But it left the UK fishing industry feeling angry.
Mike Roach, deputy chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, told me this week that emotions in the industry were still running high three months after the agreement was signed. He said the industry had been used as “pawns” in the negotiations to secure other outcomes from the EU and that the deal would benefit salmon and mussel farmers but “not the catching sector”.
“The reality is that not a single promise has materialised since Brexit and we now need to wait 12 more years for the opportunities.”
Not all sea shanties and cider
The romance of the fishing industry was captured in the D-Day landings as well as films like the 2019 Fisherman’s Friends and the fishing trip I did with my son last month off the coast of Whitby on a glorious sunny and calm day. But the reality of running a commercially successful fishing business in the 21st century is very different. The value of catches has fallen in the decade since the Brexit vote and the number of boats has declined sharply, according to Seafish, a public body that tracks fishing data.
On top of the economic uncertainty there is real danger. In a 2020 report, the New Economics Foundation said that “by per capita fatalities, fishing is the most dangerous job in the country”. It went on to say that most fishers have no set salary, no statutory entitlement to paid leave or sick pay and no workplace private pension. Recruiting the next generation of seafarers has proven challenging.
There is deep frustration within the industry that the government ignores these risks and the wider benefits fishing brings to coastal communities. It points to a study commissioned by the Cornwall Fish Producers’ Organisation that found that every one job at sea supported 15 on land. The industry also rails at government health and safety regulations, a proposed ban on bottom trawlers and the expansion of renewable energy, especially plans for floating offshore wind farms, that add to the “spatial squeeze” on fleets and reduce areas for fishing. “We’ve gone from an industry feeding the nation to a conservation problem,” says Roach.
Octopus spotted!
And under the sea’s surface fishing stocks are changing too. Mackerel is now the most abundant fish in British waters, according to the Marine Management Organisation, which is part of Defra. For most of the 20th century herring was dominant but overfishing led to its decline. More recently shellfish has become a key export. The sudden appearance this summer of large numbers of octopus off the south-west coast is a reminder of the dynamic nature of the marine environment. The voracious predators could upset the balance of UK fish stocks next year, experts say. Meanwhile, cod and haddock decline as warming seas help to push the cold water-loving fish further north and out of British waters. There’s a joke among fishing experts and policymakers that fish do not respect borders.
Defra, which regulates the fishing industry, responded by saying: “The UK’s seafood industries will benefit from deals secured with the EU, which will free up access to the UK’s primary seafood export market and protect British fishing access to EU waters.” It also said a new £360mn Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund will drive growth in the sector.
On land, too, changes are squeezing the industry. British shoppers have become accustomed to having the so-called Big Five — salmon, cod, haddock, tuna and prawns — available all year round on supermarket shelves. But none of these species are caught on any scale in British waters. So a curious mismatch has developed between the fish caught by the British fleet and the sea produce enjoyed by consumers. Diners in Europe and Asia value shellfish, particularly langoustine, crabs and scallops, more highly than shoppers in Britain’s major supermarkets Tesco or Sainsbury. As a result, the UK has become a net importer of fish.
But looking for some optimism I asked Roach of the NFFO if there had been any benefits for the UK fishing industry from Brexit. He conceded that new Fishing Management Plans, introduced after the UK left the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, have made a difference. They take a science-based, data-driven approach to managing fish stocks and have improved co-operation between the government and the industry, he said, “even though they are a phenomenal amount of work”.
Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.
The Bank of England today cut interest rates by a quarter point to 4 per cent after an unprecedented second round of voting by the Monetary Policy Committee. After the second vote, the first since the BoE’s independence in 1997, five members backed the quarter-point cut, while four voted to keep rates on hold.
The MPC reached a majority decision after Alan Taylor, an external member who had initially favoured a bigger reduction in rates, switched to back a quarter-point in the second round of voting.
The move comes as UK inflation is running at much higher levels than in the US or Eurozone, while growth is slowing. The BoE warned that higher food prices would drive inflation further above its 2 per cent inflation target in the near term, predicting a peak of 4 per cent in September, above previous estimates.
The combination of rising inflation and slow growth has raised fears that the UK could be entering a period of “stagflation”.
Governor Andrew Bailey said the path of interest rates “continues to be downward” but added that there was now “genuine uncertainty” on the Monetary Policy Committee because the panel saw risks both of an inflation overshoot and its growth forecasts undershooting.
The pound strengthened 0.4 per cent against the dollar to $1.341 following the decision and two-year gilts, which are sensitive to rate changes, rose 0.5 percentage points to 3.87 per cent, as traders braced for a slower pace of cuts.
The State of Britain is edited today by Georgina Quach. Premium subscribers can sign up here to have it delivered straight to their inbox every Thursday afternoon. Or you can take out a Premium subscription here. Read earlier editions of the newsletter here.
Recommended newsletters for you
Inside Politics — What you need to know in UK politics. Sign up here
Europe Express — Your essential guide to what matters in Europe today. Sign up here