Fishing in the Brexit negotiations The role of fishing in the broader Brexit debate has presented somewhat of a paradox: fishing represents only a small part of the UK’s economy, but fishing has received a disproportionate amount of media coverage during Brexit and the UK’s future relationships with the EU. Why, then, is this the case? One aspect of this is the strength of feeling within the fishing industry itself. Support for Leave among the fishing industry was not universal. Nevertheless, a study conducted before the 2016 referendum with Scottish skippers working on vessels over 10 metres in length found that they overwhelmingly backed Brexit, with 93% intending to vote to leave. Fishers backing Brexit were driven by a perception that leaving the EU’s CFP would right long-standing historic wrongs – an initial unfair allocation of quotas and increasing numbers of EU boats operating in UK waters. They regarded ’taking back control‘ as a chance to increase their industry’s fortunes, increase the amount of fish they were able to catch and would, by and large, have no effect on their ability trade fish. These potential benefits made the fishing industry a powerful symbol of Brexit, and the sight of fishing vessels sailing up the River Thames in 2016 became one of the defining images of the referendum campaign. Debates since the referendum have highlighted that the industry depends on more than just what and how much it catches. Trade and domestic consumption of the fish caught are, as we have seen, key factors which need to be considered in any Brexit outcome. This is particularly the case for the shellfish sector, which, in terms of value, represents the largest part of the UK’s catch and is also the most exposed to disruptions in trade due to the perishable nature of the products they export. The ending of freedom of movement is also an important issue for the sector. Some skippers employ migrant workers to crew their vessels and nearly half the workers in the seafood processing sector are EU or EEA nationals. Those employees may struggle to meet the salary threshold now envisaged in the government’s points-based migration system. Although the fishing industry only accounts for a small proportion of the UK’s economic activity, this activity tends to be concentrated in coastal communities where fishing is an important source of jobs for the local economy. Moreover, although many of these communities may not be exclusively dependent on the fisheries sector in economic terms, studies have shown how local cultural identity is defined by the presence (or historical presence) of the local fishing industry. During the Brexit debate, many of these communities found strong advocates for their local fishing industry in their local MPs, and it has been argued that strong support for leaving the CFP was key to the success of a number of Scottish Conservative MPs in recent elections.
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