The UK and Norway on Tuesday agreed to permit their fleets to catch up to 30,000 tonnes of fish in each other’s waters next year, in a deal the government said would support a more “economically viable” industry.
The agreement gave the UK the right to fish in Norwegian waters for dinner table staples including haddock and hake.
It included the chance to reel in an extra 1,500 tonnes of Arctic cod, including up to 6,550 tonnes from waters around the remote Svalbard archipelago.
According to fisheries minister Victoria Prentis, the agreement “will provide fishing opportunities for the UK fleet and it ensures a strong balance that will benefit both our fishing industry and the protection of our marine environment”.
The deal followed the announcement earlier this month that the two countries and the EU had thrashed out catch limits for six “jointly managed fish stocks” in the North Sea.
The UK and EU have been negotiating a wider fisheries deal in the wake of the 2016 British vote to leave the bloc.
Disputes over fishing rights and access to national waters had been one of the more contentious dimensions of the UK’s relationship with the rest of the bloc during its four-decade membership.
The EU’s 27 remaining member states last week agreed catch limits for next year, which they said would be “provisional” for the first three months due to “ongoing consultations” with the UK. The Irish government separately described the EU-UK talks as “stalled”.
The UK is set to impose reciprocal import checks on goods entering the country from the EU from January 1, after 2021 saw trade between the two sides plummet despite a Trade & Co-operation Agreement hammered out around Christmas last year.
