As the UK and EU prepare for an important summit, key concerns about fishing rights and youth mobility are taking center stage. Chief Executive of the CFPO, Chris Ranford, reiterates that it’s a tough time for fishing. France is continuing to threaten to ban British fishing vessels from accessing its own waters. Talk of a new youth mobility scheme has started to bubble under, including potential repercussions for net migration figures and labor market gaps.
Chris Ranford birds alongside 175 of his member vessels in the CFPO. He has seen firsthand that little has improved since his last statements to BBC Verify in 2022. He emphasized the need to guarantee a more equitable distribution of fishing opportunities in UK waters. That need grows more acute by the day as competition from foreign fleets increases.
UK fishing vessels saw their overall catch landings increase by volume, landing 719,000 tonnes of fish in 2023 – up 14% on the levels in 2019. Despite this growth, Ranford raised alarm bells about the effect of foreign fishing boats on domestic operations.
“Very modern, very high-powered French fishing vessels that have much greater catching capacity than the UK or Cornish boats come up to the six-mile line. We don’t have space to fish.” – Chris Ranford, Chief Executive of Cornish Fish Producers’ Organisation
Ranford touched on the biggest hurdle facing most SMBs. They can no longer compete with their EU counterparts because of the additional paperwork required to access EU markets following Brexit.
“Our small to medium-sized businesses can’t afford to do the extra paperwork to get the fish to the EU market.” – Chris Ranford, Chief Executive of Cornish Fish Producers’ Organisation
Elspeth Macdonald, Chief Executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, which represents 450 registered fishing boats. On the export side, she raised many of the same concerns over access to markets. She explained that the process has been made even more bureaucratic since Brexit, adding an extra layer of difficulty to trade with the EU. Macdonald pointed out that the current post-Brexit agreement on fishing rights ends in June 2026. This expiration date serves as an important starting line for everyone to hit.
“Our position approaching the EU reset… is that the access to each other’s waters would be on the basis of annual discussions.” – Elspeth Macdonald, Chief Executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation
Talks on a new UK-wide youth mobility scheme have been in the news. Madeleine Sumption from Oxford University’s Migration Observatory suggests that such a scheme could lead to increased net migration in the short term.
The EU has proposed a scheme that would allow EU and UK citizens aged 18 to 30 to stay in each other’s countries for up to four years. In 2024, Australians accounted for 40% of all youth mobility visas. That year, we allowed just under 9,500 Australians to come in on those visas.
“If the UK is worried about the impact, it could phase in the scheme, where it gradually increases the quota. So as people leave, the quota could be raised rather than a big bang, all come at once.” – Madeleine Sumption from Oxford University’s Migration Observatory
Sumption noted that temporary visas often lead to permanent settlement. People commonly get job offers and move into skilled visas through labour market testing, which is further assisted by their employers.
The next summit will be a key opportunity to hold the line and realize the potential to tackle these interconnected challenges. Fishing rights continued to be a flashpoint both parties searched for the new post-Brexit reality while attempting to build a cordial partnership.
