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A report published by Gary Taylor, a former Defra official and fisheries negotiator, has estimated the UK fishing industry will make a £300 million loss by 2026 – rather than a gain of £146 million forecast by the Government. Brexiteer June Mummery has said the Prime Minister has “sold out” British fishermen in the Brexit deal signed in December 2020, which saw the UK cut EU fishing quotas by just 25 percent over the next five years.
The former Brexit Party MEP told Express.co.uk: “The truth is there, we are worse off, it is a joke.
“I have been saying it all along, we have been sold out.”
She added: “It is devastating, I am completely devastated, I was devastated when we did not take back full control of our waters and resources.
“The industry is on its knees.”
In his damning findings, Mr Taylor forecasts the UK fishing industry will lose £64 million each year by 2026.
After June 2026, Britain can cut EU catches further but officials in Brussels will be able to slap tariffs on fishing products.
Barrie Deas, CEO of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO), said there are “very few winners and a great many losers” of the Brexit fishing deal.
He added: “These figures suggest that the bulk of the UK fishing fleet is on a trajectory to incur losses amounting to £64million or more per year over the timeframe of this analysis, meaning that, unless changes are secured through international fisheries negotiations, the industry will have lost in excess of £300 million by 2026.
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It added the mean increase in fishing quotas was nine percentage points for each of the species.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has dismissed the report published by Mr Taylor and said fishing opportunities had risen to £333 million.
It has also pointed toward the £100 million of funding made available to the industry at the start of the year.
A Defra spokesperson said: ”Now we have left the EU, we have taken back control of our waters.
“We have greater shares of fishing quota, and the total value of UK-EU fishing opportunities for the UK in 2021 is approximately £333 million – an increase of £27 million on last year.
“We have agreed a quota exchange mechanism and recently announced the first investment from our £100 million UK Seafood Fund to boost science and innovation in the industry.”
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