United Kingdom leaves London Fisheries Convention

Britain announced on 2 July 2017 that it would withdraw from the 50-year-old London Fisheries Convention, in order to fulfil one of its Brexit pledges.

The London Fisheries Convention allows fishermen from some European countries to fish between 6 and 12 nautical miles from its coastline. It also allows UK fishermen to fish close to the coast of Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.

After a two-year withdrawal period, British fishermen will no longer be allowed into the waters, and vice versa.

However, Michel Barnier, Chief Brexit Negotiator of the European Union, warned that leaving the London agreement does not mean the Britain would be able to unilaterally decide whom to allow in and whom to keep out of its waters.

What is London Fisheries Convention?

• The London Fisheries Convention is an international agreement signed in London.

• It was signed in relation to fishing rights across the coastal waters of Western Europe, in particular the fishing rights of the North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat and the European Atlantic coast.

• It gives the right of full access to the fishing grounds between 6 and 12 nautical miles of the national coastline to the fishing industry of those contracting parties that had already been fishing there in the period 1953–1962.

• The agreement was partly superseded by the creation of the Common Fisheries Policy by the member states of the then European Communities in 1970, although this agreement to date remains separate from all subsequent agreements within the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).