Don Thompson, chairman of the Jersey Fishermen’s Association, said he believed that his industry was likely to face tougher trade restrictions with the EU whichever form of Brexit happened. However, a harder option would be preferable as the Island would be freed from EU control, new export markets around the world would open up to the Island post-Brexit and Europe would lose out if it tried to restrict imports from the Island as part of a new trade deal.
Mr Thompson, who was a vocal Leave supporter before the 2016 referendum on EU membership, said that nothing had happened to change his opinion on Brexit and he would favour as much independence from the EU as possible.
‘Post-Brexit the UK and, by default, the Channel Islands will become an independent coastal state with control over its fisheries resource, albeit here we are stuck with the Granville Bay Agreement which will continue to provide access to the French [to Channel Island waters],’ he said.
‘The implications are that our fisheries products will be deemed to have come from a third country/state [outside the EU] and will almost certainly face barriers whichever Brexit we have, so we may as well have a hard Brexit with the benefits that this will bring in terms of autonomy on various levels.’
He added: ‘Nothing has changed to make me believe that the Brexit vote was not the right one. A lot of the scaremongering and threats that big businesses would leave Jersey and the UK have proved to be unfounded.
‘New markets for fisheries products are opening up outside of the EU so the EU will suffer as much as Jersey and the UK if the intention is to make life difficult for exporters and importers.’
Mr Thompson said he believed that at a national level Remain-favouring politicians had tried to disrupt Brexit.
‘Clearly at national level there appears to be a number of politicians within the governing parties who still harbour their Remain beliefs and who are intent on making the leaving process as difficult as possible, particularly for the Prime Minister, which is having a very negative effect,’ he said. ‘Locally we are told that there is a Brexit team who are very active at present, although from my perspective it seems a little surprising that they do not appear to want to engage directly with industry and businesses.
‘It is possible that they do engage via other routes – or have just forgotten that there is an agriculture and fisheries sector.’
