Regarding the EU-UK “reset” and the accusations of sellout on granting EU fishing fleets’ access to UK waters for a further 12 years, what is often overlooked is that European fishing rights in UK territorial waters far predate the UK’s entry into the European Economic Community
in 1973.
The 1964 London Fisheries Convention, signed by 13 European countries, established rights for vessels from these nations to fish in the six to 12 nautical mile zone of each other’s coastal waters, provided they had habitually fished there between 1953 and 1962. These “grandfather rights” were based on long-standing fishing patterns, reflecting centuries of shared access to North Sea and English Channel waters. Indeed, as long ago as 1666, Charles II granted 50 Flemish fishermen from Bruges “eternal rights” to fish in English waters. Even Nigel Farage, leader of the rightwing populist Reform party, would surely agree that a further 12 years is a drop in the ocean compared to eternity.
Rupert Rogers
Dubai, UAE
