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UK Fisheries Ltd says they are encouraged by negotiations on fisheries between the UK and Greenland. Photo: UK Fisheries Ltd
UK Fisheries Ltd have welcomed the UK’s fisheries negotiations with Greenland saying that they are important for the UK’s distant water fleet.
UK Fisheries Ltd are based in Hull and are the owners of the UK’s only distant water freezer trawler, the 81-metre state of the art, Kirkella which was built in 2018.
Brexit hit the company hard and failed negotiations for 2021 between the UK and Norway meant their fleet operations were severely hampered. For 2022, the UK has been allocated only 500 tonnes of cod in Norwegian waters and 6,500 tonnes in the waters around Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean. The UK has lost fishing opportunities in NAFO (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization) and currently has no quotas in Greenland.
The total available cod quota in distant waters for 2022 is 7,000 tonnes, compared with a total of 19,500 tonnes in 2018.
Therefore, the negotiations between the UK and Greenland would be a major boost to the ailing company.
“UK Fisheries is encouraged by the parallel trade and fisheries negotiations with Greenland which are so important for the UK’s Distant Waters Fleet.
“The vital interest for the UK fleet is to regain access for our boats to Greenlandic waters to catch worthwhile amounts of cod and haddock. This objective is even more crucial today as it will add to the security of the supply of fish for our national dish, something which is already under threat from higher prices caused by the war in Ukraine.
“We therefore trust that, working in conjunction with the Department of International Trade, DEFRA negotiators ensure that access for British fishing boats is enshrined in a UK-Greenland Fisheries Framework Agreement before any agreement is reached on trade and tariffs. This step will enable UK fisheries negotiators to secure a realistic amount of fish for the UK fleet which reflects the value to Greenland of any removal of tariffs on Greenland shrimp exports to the UK. The removal of those tariffs alone will be worth at least £52m p.a. to Greenland’s exporters and, while we may not secure quotas of the same value, the UK should be seeking several thousand tons of cod or equivalent stocks in subsequent negotiations.”
