Barrie Deas, the CEO of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, talked to Express.co.uk about what impact Brexit will have on the British fishing industry. He spoke about the type of deal that he and his colleagues are looking for. Mr Deas confirmed that in a no deal situation, the UK would “automatically become an independent coastal state”.

He said that being an independent coastal state would give the UK “the rights and responsibilities associated with managing and exploiting the resources with the 200-mile limit or the Meridian Line”.

He confirmed that this was the situation in Norway and had been so for the last 45 years.

Mr Deas confirmed that a Norway-style deal is really the model the fishing industry are hoping for.

He said: “If we were an independent coastal state, which we will become if we leave the EU, then we can have regulatory autonomy.”

He continued: “That means we can set the rules over who fishes in our waters, the rules that apply in those waters and the ability to negotiate as an independent party, not as part of the EU delegation and that’s very attractive for us.

“What we want is very similar to the EU’s current relationship with Norway.

“They meet annually in November, December, and there’s a fisheries agreement for the following year.

“And that covers the total allowable catches, the quota shares between the parties, the access arrangements, how much they can fish in our waters, how much we can fish in theirs.”

Mr Deas added: “Also quote exchanges where it makes sense to swap quotas.

“And significantly the quota shares are based on, what they call, zonal attachment.

“This is an assessment of what resources are in your waters, what resources are in our waters, and the quota shares reflect that.”

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He said: “And that’s very different from the way the quota shares are agreed within the EU, which is the principal of relative stability.

“Essentially, it’s based on historic fishing patterns so if you caught that amount of fish in the past, you get broadly that percentage in the future.

“That would be the big change.”

The EU’s Common Fisheries Policy was a major reason for the large numbers of fishermen who voted to leave the EU.

The policy sets quotas for which member states are allowed to catch each type of fish, but since the UK waters are where most of the fish are, this had led to disproportionate and unfair quotas.

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