Several disgruntled British fishermen slammed the terms outlined in Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal during the BBC’s ‘Cornwall: This Fishing Life’ programme. The UK’s Prime Minister was accused of securing fishing terms for a good soundbite rather than the sector’s long-term success.
One fisherman said: “By now even getting our 12-mile fishing zone, it is just a complete hammer-blow to the whole UK.
“Just to be let down again, is just so wrong.”
Another stated: “It is not a good win, it is not clawing back a loud of our quota.
“It is enough to be able to put a good soundbite out to make it sound like we are but it is not the case at all.
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“I think the mood is a sort of mixture between anger and disappointment.”
A third said: “The EU has hung the deal on the fact that any changes could incur penalties or tariffs on our exports into Europe so it is going to be very tricky.
“It is a pretty lousy deal, at best it is a minimal deal, at worst it is a disaster.”
A fourth fisherman said: “We are struggling to get fish through to France.
Scottish fishing businesses had seen a sharp decrease in exports to the European Union in the initial weeks following the Brexit transition period ending on January 1 2021.
Adam Payne, Westminster reporter for PoliticsHome tweeted: “Scottish fishing businesses have this morning brought around a dozen lorries to Westminster to protest how post-Brexit paperwork is torpedoing their exports to the EU.”
Reporter Angela Haggerty told the BBC that the problems Scotland’s fishing sector has suffered since the end of the post-Brexit transition period could demonstrate that fishermen were misled regarding Brexit.
“That is one of the industries that was promised a lot as being part of the union and being outside the European Union.
“In terms of the future of Scotland, if you continue to alienate the industries that may already support the union and the UK Government, then you are in big trouble.”
