Brexit: French Fishermen Worry What A Trade Deal May Mean For Them

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Trucks wait to enter the Eurotunnel Complex on Dec. 16, in Calais, France. Some worry long lines of trucks could preview the possible chaos and shortages resulting from a no-deal Brexit.

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Every morning at the English Channel port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, French trawlers pull up to the docks to unload their catch after fishing all night.

Laurent Merlin, a French fisherman, says he gets well over half his catch in British waters, where he says there are more fish. If there’s no deal and the French are banned from fishing in British waters, Merlin says he won’t survive.

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Fishermen unload and sort the day’s catch from the fishing boat Laurent-Geoffrey at Quai Gambetta in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.

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The current system is a complex latticework of quotas for each type of fish that can be caught by each country. If there’s no deal on December 31, when Britain leaves the Common Fisheries Policy, EU fleets — which, in this area, include those from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany — will no longer have equal access to U.K. fishing waters. World Trade Organization rules will take over, with new customs duties, barriers and quotas.

Ben Firmin, who works with the regional fisheries committee in Boulogne-sur-Mer, says there’s always been a partnership: the French and other Europeans fish in British waters. The British sell more than 70% of their haul to Europe.

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A dispute over fishing rights has been one of the main sticking points to a trade deal between the EU and the United Kingdom.

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Benoit Celino sells fish to a customer at the fish market in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

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A worker directs trucks where to wait in line in order to board ferries to the United Kingdom in Calais, France. Twenty percent of British imports pass through the port of Calais.

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President and General Manager of Port Boulogne Calais Jean-Marc Puissesseau says the French government is working hard to find a solution.

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Crew from the fishing boat L’Ophelea unload equipment in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Brexit supporters have equated fishing rights with British sovereignty and claimed Europeans were «stealing their fish.

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Mathieu Pinto, captain of the fishing boat L’Ophelea, says he needs to fish and will put up a fight if he is barred from British waters.

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Mathieu Pinto, captain of the fishing boat L’Ophelea, says he needs to fish and will put up a fight if he is barred from British waters.

Pete Kiehart for NPR