EU trawlers will still be able to fish in UK waters after Brexit, Michael Gove has confirmed.
Despite promising to âtake back controlâ of the seas, the Environment Secretary admitted the UK does not have the capacity to catch and process all its own fish.
Mr Gove, a leading Leave campaigner, confirmed foreign boats would continue to operate off the UK when he met Danish fishing leaders on a visit to Jutland earlier this week.
In July, Mr Gove suggested no foreign boats would be allowed to fish within six to 12 miles of the coast once the UK left the Common Fisheries Policy, and could then âdecide the terms of accessâ for other countries.
Niels Wichmann, head of the Danish Fishermenâs Association, said it was a âlogical announcementâ but âvery positive and a little surprisingâ so early in the Brexit talks.
SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson said the âstartling revelationsâ showed the Tories could not be trusted to stand up for rural Scotland.
He said: âHe [Mr Gove] could start by confirming that devolved powers over fisheries will transfer to Scotland so we can get on with developing our own management policies which put Scottish fishing interests, offshore and onshore, first."
Bertie Armstrong of the Scottish Fishermenâs Federation said: âIt is clear from our meetings with the government that control over our waters will be in our hands after Brexit. We will be out of the CFP and we will decide who fishes where and for what. We must have first call on quota.â
The UKâs Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "Leaving the EU means we will take back control of our territorial waters, and for the first time in 50 years we will be able to grant fishing access for other countries on our terms.â
Meanwhile, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said Brexit will happen despite the UK realising the âdensity of problemsâ ahead.
Maltese PM Joseph Muscat last week said there were âhopeful signsâ that âBrexit will not happenâ, but Mr Juncker said: âMy working hypothesis is that it will come to Brexit".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Â
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Â
That is invaluable.Â
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalistâs job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readersâ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readersâ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the âreport this postâ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel