Fishermen in the United Kingdom fear a new tracking app could sink their way of life before the UK fleet can enjoy its much-heralded “Brexit bonus”.
Skippers of more than 2,100 vessels in England have been ordered by the British government to use the Catch App in a bid to collect more detailed information on how much fish is being caught by small-scale fishermen.
Concerned industry representatives say the technology roll-out could sound the death knell for traditional fishing, just as Britain prepares to cut itself from the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
The fishing industry accounts for around 0.1 percent of the UK’s gross domestic product – a tiny sector of the national economy, but one that dominates coastal communities. Long-running dissatisfaction with European quotas became emblematic of anti-EU feeling in the run-up to the Brexit referendum – and has remained so ever since.
The UK, after December 31 of this year, will be exempt from the much-derided rules set by Brussels, which dictate how much and where trawlermen can fish. UK government ministers will be free to set their own fisheries stipulations.
British fishermen hope to be able to catch more fish as a result, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisting the UK would “take back control” of fishing in waters up to 200 nautical miles (370km) from its coastline after Brexit.
But such divergence from the EU has a knock-on impact in much larger industries.
When Britain’s giant financial services sector loses out on privileged access to EU customers from next January onward, firms will be able to service those clients only in subsectors where rules are deemed “equivalent”.
UK finance minister Sajid Javid on Tuesday urged the EU to consider Britain’s financial sector “equivalent”, based on Brussels acknowledging that UK regulation is as robust as that of the EU.
However, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said London should be “under no illusion” on financial services as there would be “no general, global, permanent equivalence” with Britain.
Britain and the EU have agreed to talks over industry equivalence by the end of June, but Brussels says actual financial market access will be linked to broader trade issues such as fishing rights.
Al Jazeera