Spain Welcomes UK-EU Fishing Agreement

Spain welcomes the UK-EU fishing agreement because it will give “security” to Spanish fishermen, the Minister of Agriculture said.

On June 10, the UK and EU signed agreement on catch levels for 2021, the agreement covers catch limits for 70 shared fish stocks worth approximately £333 million, or 160,000 tons, in fishing opportunities to the UK fleet.

Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, said he welcomed the agreement as “It gives security to Spanish fishermen about what catches will be available until the end of the year, and it meets their demands.”

The catch limits known as Total Allowable Catches have been set for 70 fish stocks and supersede the previous provisional catch limits for 2021.

The agreement provides stability for UK fleets with all Total Allowable Catches remaining in line with the provisional catch limits set earlier this year, apart from eight that have small increases.

The annual negotiations for 2021, in which the UK participated as an independent coastal State, follow the signing of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the UK and EU.

As a result of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and these negotiations, the UK fleet will have around 26,000 tonnes more quota for these stocks compared with quotas allocated in 2020. This increase is estimated to be worth around £27 million.

Both parties have also committed to exchanging fishing quotas on an interim basis ahead of a longer-term exchange system which will be set up by the Specialised Committee on Fisheries.

The Specialised Committee on Fisheries established under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides a forum for discussions on fisheries matters between the EU and UK and will meet for the first time in June.

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