Fisheries yet again!

There's another update from Jill Rutter on fisheries, that can be accessed here:

UK and the EU

I've posted a comment as follows:

As we all know, the EU is constitutionally unable to compromise on the basic principles, whatever apparent concessions M Barnier may be able to offer. As he keeps saying, it’s the UK that wants to leave the club.

Acknowledging UK sovereignty is the most obvious of possible concessions. It’s a dreadful concept that’s been causing chaos since the time of Grotius, totally unsuited to a modern interdependent world. That the UK, uniquely, lacked a written constitution created a problem for constitutional lawyers that was resolved decades ago in a typically English way by not talking about it. For the EU to acknowledge that it “exists” would change nothing of substance. It would leave all the issues around catch, quota, landing rights, exporting and certification unresolved. There is no possibility of this being achieved within the next six months.

Assuming no-deal with either no agreement on fisheries or a basic deal with fisheries handled per Mr Frost’s current, very basic, draft, certain things will still exist in the real world. The fish will still be swimming, the existing fleets will, along with the processors and delivery chains, still be based in the same ports. Importantly the British public will still want to eat what they are used to, cod rather than mackerel, for example, most swimming outside UK waters.

There is plenty of law supporting the idea that fishing quota is a right of property entitled to protection under the ECHR, which cannot be removed without compensation. In any event the biggest owners of quota have been among the strongest supporters of Brexit, see the Tory gains in Scotland’s North east. It’s difficult to imagine the Johnson regime signing their rights away.

As your recent research paper confirms, the three non EU fishing states, Norway, Iceland and the Faroes, have not allowed non-nationals to own quota or vessels. By contrast the UK, along with some but, I think not all, EU member states has, so that 80% of English quota and an unknown fraction of Scottish is now foreign owned. Add the fact that the biggest ships are owned via entities often controlled from abroad or behind tax havens, often with big mortgages from UK taxpayer-owned banks. They can and do fish anywhere, land where it suits them and regard regulations as being there to be got round. Anyone thinking that foreign supertrawlers will vanish from our coasts next year is in for a surprise.

While the foregoing suggests no change for the largest, richest owners, the outcome for the smaller vessels and the people who depend on them looks dire. Most of the fleet on the Scottish West coast, where I live, consists of smaller vessels, mainly fishing non quota species, plus a contingent of specialist shellfish divers. They are already facing destitution due to Covid 19, which has blocked delivery chains. The tests and associated expense and paperwork that are coming with Brexit are likely to kill them off for good. To date David Frost and his team have completely ignored this forthcoming disaster, nor have they engaged with any representative from the area.