EU fishing boats can still operate in UK waters after Brexit, says Gove

Environment secretary’s remarks to Danish industry leaders contradict his insistence that Britain ‘take back control’ after quitting EU common fisheries policy Michael Gove reportedly told Danish fishing industry leaders that the UK ‘does not have the capacity to catch and process all the fish in British waters’. The comments from Gove, recounted by Danish fishing leaders after they met the environment secretary, prompted complaints from the Lib Dems and SNP that the government’s stance on the issue was confused.

In July, Gove said Britain was “taking back control” of its fisheries by departing from the EU common fisheries policy, which lets member states fish between 12 and 200 nautical miles off the UK’s coastline. He also announced the UK’s withdrawal from the London fisheries convention, signed before the UK joined the EU, which lets vessels from the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands fish within between six and 12 nautical miles of each other’s coasts.

But the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the plan had always been to allow other nations some access to UK territorial waters after Brexit, and that the extent of this could now be decided by the UK. Click here to read more.

It has not gone down well with fishermen in Scotland! ‘Flabbergasting’ & ‘Betrayal’

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