The Shellfish Association of Great Britain (SAGB) gave evidence to the committee and claimed the industry had “raised concerns over the viability of trade in LBMs with government and, in particular, with DEFRA many times since 2017” due to the different rules for exports from non-EU Member States.
In September 2019, DEFRA sought "clarification" from the Commission about whether LBM could continue to be depurated after having been exported to the EU and Defra then informed the SAGB that LBM harvested from aquaculture in “class B and class C waters would still be able to be exported to the EU for depuration”.
On 10 December 2020 the Secretary of State George Eustice wrote to MPs setting out, among other issues, which products would be subject to “prohibition and restrictions” on exports to the EU. This included “farmed aquatic animals not ready for human consumption” including LBMs. These would be “not exportable unless compliant with conditions for third country imports”, however “the issue will only be relevant to aquaculture animals produced in areas subject to disease controls”.
It turns out that DEFRA got it wrong. I note Dr North touched very briefly on the subject this morning in his blogpost without mentioning his claim a few weeks ago that the EU had misunderstood its own rules. Perhaps that isn't altogether surprising.
Sarah Horsfall, joint CEO of the SAGB told the committee that DEFRA, did "not understand the detail very well … back in January" and "did not necessarily understand the way the industry operated". Well, blow me down with a feather!
And now on page 12 of the 43 page EFRA report we get to the nub of the issue: The SAGB said the root of the problem was that Defra didn’t share correspondence with the EU from September 2019 with the SAGB even though it asked to see the EU clarification several times.
The SAGB only saw the correspondence in February this year after exports had been rejected at the border and having looked at the exchange, the SAGB said:
"...from the documentation it has now seen that DEFRA asked a question of the EU with regard to the trade, which was insufficiently detailed, lacked clarity and was based on animal health considerations when the issue concerns food safety. The EU then replied to [it] in a way which was open to misinterpretation. Industry feels that there has been a lack of understanding of both industry practices and relevant legislation shown throughout the process by DEFRA and this has led directly to the current situation where industry cannot trade."
In other words the issue is exactly as set out in EU Commissioner Stella Kyriakides' letter of 10 February and as I set out in a post on 4 March.
Even the Daily Express have pick it up!! How humiliating is that? They run a headline: UK fishing farce: Jobs and factories could move to EU after 'dog's breakfast' deal - paper and say the "UK Government has failed British fishermen, an industry leader has said after the publication of a new Parliamentary probe into the ongoing ban on shellfish exports to the continent."
Note, entirely predictably (and wisely perhaps), The Express doesn't talk about its own role in bring about Brexit and the calamity for British fishermen.
The "dog's breakfast" comment comes from Jeremy Percy, chairman of the New Under Ten Fishermen's Association (NUFTA) by the way, it isn't actually in the report, although it could have been. The Express also mention the super trawler, The Kirkella, operating out of Hull in the distant waters around Norway and give a quote from Mr Percy:
“Our negotiators have yet to secure a long term deal with the EU on quotas or with Norway."
He might be even angrier this morning because UK Fisheries, the company that ultimately own the Kirkella had a news item on their website: UK government sinks British distant-waters fleet, 29 APRIL 2021. The item is headlined:
Failure in Norway talks to cost hundreds of Humberside jobs
"The UK government has failed to land a fishing access deal with Norway that would have allowed the British distant-waters fleet to keep working. Consequently the UK has no rights to fish in Norwegian sub-Arctic waters in 2021 and hundreds of crewmen have no work.
“This is a very black day for Britain,” said UK Fisheries CEO Jane Sandell. “George Eustice owes our crews and the Humberside region an explanation as to why Defra was unable even to maintain the rights we have had to fish in Norwegian waters for decades, never mind land the boasts of a ‘Brexit Bonus’, which has turned to disaster.
“In consequence, there will be no British-caught Arctic cod sold through chippies for our national dish – it will all be imported from the Norwegians, who will continue to sell their fish products to the UK tariff-free while we are excluded from these waters. Quite simply, this is a disgrace and a national embarrassment.”
The board of UK Fisheries will now meet to decide what presence it can have in Hull with no viable fishing opportunities in its traditional grounds. UK Fisheries has invested approximately £180m over the past 20 years in the Humberside fishing industry, and had planned further investment of up to £100m.
“The latter means that the UK's largest fishing vessel, Kirkella [of UK Fisheries] is unable to fish in their waters as she would have been doing by now in normal times."
The BBC report it HERE with a quote from the government, "The government said its "fair offer" had been rejected [by Norway] in talks." Well that's alright then.
York is just down the A1079 from Hull. I wonder if Julian Sturdy would like to pop down and explain again all the advantages of quitting the EU? I bet the crew of The Kirkella will give him a warm welcome, a very warm welcome indeed.
