Fisheries Management in United Kingdom Waters after Brexit: An Assessment of the Changes Made by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement

As a result of Brexit, the United Kingdom (UK) regained its former autonomy to manage the fish stocks found in its waters at the beginning of 2021, such management having been the responsibility of the European Union (EU) for most of the previous 40 years. However, the UK’s newly regained fisheries management autonomy is subject to a number of wide-ranging constraints prescribed by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the main treaty governing post-Brexit relations between the UK and the EU. This chapter begins by outlining the position as it was until the end of 2020 and then analyses the constraints placed on the UK’s fisheries management autonomy by the TCA. The chapter ends with an assessment of the changes made by the TCA from the perspectives of fisheries management and the UK fishing industry.