The impact of Brexit on the European fisheries sector

Subject: The impact of Brexit on the European fisheries sector

One of the sectors most affected by Brexit was the fisheries sector in the EU, where it caused a decrease in the total allowable catch. As a result, many fishing opportunities (and mainly small-scale fishers) have been threatened. This has caused considerable challenges for this community, especially for those who used to fish in British maritime areas and had commercial exchanges with the UK.

The Brexit Adjustment Reserve was established to address these issues and to mitigate the short- term consequences of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

The Commission’s plan involved giving each Member State the autonomy to present a recovery plan. They would then have access to funding provided by the Brexit Adjustment Reserve to compensate their fisheries sector for the loss of fishing opportunities with the UK.

In its resolution on the future of fisheries in the Channel, North Sea, Irish Sea and Atlantic Ocean, Parliament recommended that the Commission should direct the funding to fishers.

1. As recommended by Parliament in the aforementioned resolution, has the Commission managed, through this scheme, to provide small-scale fishers with the financial assistance they needed owing to Brexit losses?

2. Is it possible for the Commission to quantify the amount of financial assistance given per Member State?

Submitted: 6.12.2022

Answer given by Ms Ferreira on behalf of the European Commission

(17 February 2023)

1. The Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) (1) provides support to Member States to master the transition of the United Kingdom (UK) from being an EU Member State to being a non-EU country. The reserve should mitigate the negative impact on economic, social and territorial cohesion. In terms of the regions and sectors most affected, it is clear that Brexit poses specific challenges to the EU fishing industry. The regulation establishing the BAR is reflecting this in the allocation key. Member States that depend significantly on fisheries (i.e. Member States whose provisional allocation from the resources of the Reserve includes an amount exceeding EUR 10 million determined on the basis of the factor linked to fish caught in the United Kingdom’s exclusive economic zone as defined in the allocation key set out in Art.4(3) (2)) will have to direct a minimum percentage (3) of their national allocation to small-scale coastal fisheries and local and regional communities dependent on fishing activities.

2. The BAR aims to provide swift support to Member States tailored to their specific Brexit-related challenges while minimising administrative burden. For this reason, no advance programming or planning of measures is envisaged.The legislator established at the outset a provisional allocation per Member State (4) under the BAR. The reserve is implemented under shared management. Each Member State has to submit its application for a financial contribution from the Reserve by 30 September 2024. In this application, the Member States will, inter alia, document their expenditure stemming from measures carried out with BAR support. The Commission will then assess and determine eligibility as well as additional payments (or recovery) of BAR funds.

1 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:L:2021:357:FULL

2 ∙ ⸱ Annex I of the BAR Regulation.

3 ∙ ⸱ at least 50% of this amount or 7% of their provisionally allocated amount, whichever is lower.

4 ∙ ⸱ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ%3AL%3A2021%3A362%3AFULL