Danish pin hopes on Brexit deal

With no access to British waters, it can lead to losses up to 10 million kroner locally

Thyborøn: In Thyboron, a port in western Denmark, the sky is grey and overcast and fishermen look just as gloomy as soon as the word Brexit is mentioned. Almost all of the 2,000 people who live here know a fisherman whose livelihood depends largely on catches in British waters. Tamme Bolt’s trawler has increasingly fished in British waters, following the fish as they migrate further north in the North Sea.

Bolt, a good-natured fisherman in his 50s who heads a crew of 10, tells AFP that if he no longer has access to British waters, “we will lose one third of our income” and he might have to lay off people.

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Many of the 300-strong local fishermen’s association, Denmark’s biggest, catch between 10 and 70 percent of their haul in the British part of the North Sea, reeling in cod, herring and sand eel among others.

The “Tina Jeannette”, a gleaming 247-tonne trawler, catches its entire haul in the British zone.
Britain left the EU in January, and negotiators have failed so far to agree on how to assign fishing quotas in its waters as it regains its status as an independent coastal state — sparking concern among Europe’s fishermen used to plying their trade in the Atlantic, the North Sea and the English Channel.

For chief executive Jes Bjerregaard, “a good Brexit would be a Brexit where it continues to be as it is today.”Pending a deal, “we’re just awaiting the conclusions after which we’ll have to take necessary actions to minimise a potential loss.” And time is running out, he says.