LONDON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Britain's fishing industry is "disappointed and frustrated" with the deal Britain agreed with the European Union (EU) on fishing in the country's waters, chief of the organisation representing the British fishing industry has said.

In an interview with Xinhua about the impact of the deal, Barrie Deas, the chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO), said: "We will remain tied into quota and access arrangement with the EU that do not reflect our status as an independent coastal state. The UK fishing industry is disappointed and frustrated that so little has been achieved in the negotiations (with the EU) despite the UK's new legal status as an independent coastal state."

The NFFO had been in the frontline during the negotiations, having been originally established as a single voice for the industry in 1977 during the negotiations for the regional block's 1983 Common Fisheries Policy agreement.

Fishing rights became a critical issue in the 11th hour talks that led to a post-Brexit trade deal agreed between Britain and the EU last month.

"We had hoped Britain would have the same relationship on fisheries with the EU that Norway holds. Two coastal states which share stocks agreeing a balanced and genuinely reciprocal relationship through annual fisheries agreements," Deas said.

The NFFO chief is concerned that at the end of five and half years, the period expiring 2026 when the agreement on fisheries expires, Britain will remain tied into an "asymmetric and exploitative relationship with the EU" on fisheries because other national priorities have taken precedence.

Under the deal, the EU fishing quota in British waters will be reduced by 15 percent in the first year and 2.5 percentage points each year after. From June 2026, annual talks will be held between the two sides to set the amount EU fishing boats can catch in British waters and vice versa.

Britain will have the right to completely withdraw access to fishing boats from EU member states, but the EU could respond by suspending access to its waters for British boats or impose tariffs on fish exports from Britain to the EU.

The economic value to Britain of its fishing industry represents just a small portion of the country's total trade with the world, but at one stage it threatened to sink the whole Brexit deal.

"We too wanted a trade agreement with the EU, but the EU's tactics were to artificially link a fisheries agreement to a trade agreement. Free access to the natural resources of another country should not be a feature of a trade agreement," Deas said.

"When push came to shove, despite the legal, moral and political strength of our case, fishing was sacrificed for other national objectives," he added.

The NFFO's response to the new deal was in sharp contrast to the way the agreement was hailed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after he announced the breakthrough in trade talks.

Just a week into the new deal, the NFFO is already highlighting problems for Britain's 12,000 trawlermen and fishers, as the country comes into terms with new export regulations with the EU. The consignments could be rejected by EU customers if delayed by bureaucracy.

"Despite the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the UK and the EU reached on Christmas eve (2020), there is mounting concern over the export of fish to Europe, centering on obstacles in Calais and Boulogne. The first consignments of the year from Cornwall hit a brick wall of bureaucracy, and similar problems are being faced in relation to prawns exported from North Shields and with direct landings into Holland," the NFFO said in a statement Thursday.

Nevertheless, looking to the future, Deas stroke a more positive tone: "The deal is in place and the main benefit that we now have is regulatory autonomy outside the Common Fisheries Policy."

"We have the opportunity to manage our fisheries better, albeit with reduced fishing opportunities than we should have," he said.

The EU and Britain announced on Dec. 24, 2020 that they had reached an agreement that will govern their trade and security relationship starting from Jan. 1, 2021, after the end of the Brexit transition period.

The deal, which came after nine months of arduous negotiations between Britain and the EU, is the biggest bilateral trade deal signed by either side, covering trade worth around 668 billion pounds (about 906 billion U.S. dollars).

The EU is Britain's largest trading partner. Britain is the EU's third largest trading partner in goods, after the United States and China. Enditem

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