Brexit: Sandell complains about “shameful” lack of Norway deal
And they were backed by the chairs of two influential parliamentary committees, as well as Luke Pollard, Labor shadow minister for the environment, who have all called on the prime minister to deliver on his promise of a bright future for British fishermen after Brexit. In her speech today, Jane Sandell, CEO of UK Fisheries Ltd, which specializes in fishing in distant waters outside of the UK, said the UK must impose a “temporary means of trade against Norway” on the country’s fishermen in order to make a living and to rebalance the economic relationship between the two countries.
The UK fishing vessel, the Kirkella, is severely limited in the time it can fish off the Norwegian coast where it was previously deployed.
Ms. Sandell said: “The UK-Norway fishing talks for 2021 collapsed in June when the Norwegians left the table.
“Not only does this prevent the UK fleet from fishing in Norwegian waters for arctic cod and haddock for the UK market – it also means Norwegian fishing boats can catch the same fish and export it to the UK market.”
Boris Johnson has been asked to ban Norwegian cod imports (Image: GETTY)
Labor Shadow Environment Secretary Luke Pollard said British fishermen had been “betrayed” (Image: GETTY)
She added, “This one-two punch means that most of the fish that used to be caught by British crews for our national dish and sold in fish and chip shops across the country are now caught by Norwegians and Icelanders and exported to us.
“Our state-of-the-art trawler Kirkella is limited to fishing for scrap off Spitsbergen.
“And all because Britain refuses to flex its muscles as an independent coastal state.”
The Organization of Fisheries Producers (FPO) has therefore urged the government to impose the temporary relief tariff on cod and haddock imports from Norway until the Scandinavian country restores the UK’s cod and haddock quotas in its waters, Sandell said.
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Kirkella, front anchor in Hull (Image: GETTY)
In addition, the FPÖ has asked the government’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) to make a decision on this basis.
In a debate in Westminster Hall earlier this week, Neil Parish, Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, urged the government to “use a temporary trade solution with Norway to try to give our boats access to their waters” .
In the same debate, Angus MacNeil, chairman of the International Trade Committee, read out a letter he had received from Sir Barney White Spunner, chairman of UK Fisheries’ advisory board, to support such an approach
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Angus MacNeil speaks during the debate (Image: Parliament TV)
Neil Parish asked that the temporary trade remedy could be imposed (Image: Parliament TV)
In his letter, Sir Barney said: “The recent deal with Norway is causing even more pain to an already paralyzed fleet in distant waters.
At the same time that Norway abolished our right to cod in its waters, the UK gave them the right to sell the same cod to UK chippies duty free.
“In fact, the British government left most of our market to the Norwegians overnight and in return achieved nothing for the English fishermen.
European fisheries mapped (Image: Express)
“We are calling on the government to use a temporary means of trade to bring the Norwegians back to the negotiating table.”
Mr. MacNeil commented: “This deserves to be highlighted and brought to the fore in this debate.
“Many in the fishing industry in all parts of the UK are suffering quite a lot.”
Trawlers fish for cod in the Arctic (Image: GETTY)
Luke Pollard, EFRA Shadow Secretary of State, also supported the call, saying: “The plight of the distant water fleet is often ignored.
“It is a sector of our economy that has been massively betrayed.
“These fishermen are a living, breathing example of the betrayal that has been perpetrated against them.”
Express.co.uk has contacted Defra for a comment.
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