Brexit fishing battle as Norwegian trawlers rush to catch fish before entering UK waters | Politics | New
Under post-Brexit rules, fishermen in the northern European nation are no longer allowed to fish up to the 12-mile British coastal border. This makes Norwegian boats desperate to suck up their catch before the fish head west in September. An impending “herring and mackerel race between Norway and the United Kingdom” has been predicted by German television station N-TV.
Norway is not a member of the EU but is associated with the bloc through its membership of the European Economic Area (EEA).
Norwegian broadcaster NRK warned mackerel and herring would be too young to be caught in August.
The country’s Minister of Fisheries, Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, regretted this development.
He called this an “indirect consequence” of Britain’s decision to withdraw from the 27-member bloc.
The region’s mackerel typically begin life during the warmer spring months in Irish and UK waters.
Their annual migratory journey takes them across the seas of the EU, Norway, the Faroe Islands, recently Iceland and sometimes Greenland.
Eventually, they will return south and east to spawn again.
READ MORE: Danish fishermen rage against EU for lack of compensation
When the UK cut ties with Brussels, it left the club’s controversial Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
In April, it was revealed that the UK government did not have a fishing deal with Oslo.
This has led to widespread anger and condemnation from the fishing bosses and the Leftovers.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s failure to strike a pact has been seen as a major setback for long-suffering British coastal communities.
The government claimed it had tabled a “fair deal”, but the two sides were simply “too far apart” to reach an agreement this year.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said coastal communities had been “betrayed by the Prime Minister”.
As a result, the super trawler Kirkella was beached in Hull.
Before Brexit, the freezer trawler caught 10% of the fish sold in chip shops across the country.
The boat remains in port six months after the end of the Brexit transition period.
Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg.