EU plot to steal Chagos fishing rights after Starmer surrender | World | News
The European Union is moving fast to cash in on Sir Keir Starmer’s controversial handover of the Chagos Islands, it has been claimed. Brussels is seeking to secure fishing rights in the waters of the British territory following the surrender of sovereignty. The EU believes the prime minister’s plan could further increase the relevance of its existing fishing agreement with Mauritius by opening swathes of ocean around the archipelago to French and Spanish vessels.
A report from the European Commission reveals it is watching Britain’s Chagos deal with great interest. The document says the deal could open the door to fishing licences in a major boost to European-owned trawlers. This has raised concerns that European trawlers will exploit fish stocks in the 640,000 sq km area surrounding the Chagos archipelago, one of the planet’s largest Marine Protected Areas (MPA). The zone has been under a Britain-enforced “no take zone” since 2010.
The EU fleet already holds licences in the Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius to target Indian Ocean tuna, a fishery worth more than £6bn a year.
Nigel Farage told The Telegraph: “The EU’s rapacious destruction of west African fisheries will soon extend to Chagos.” He called the findings “the final straw”, adding: “The world’s largest marine protected area is to be surrendered by a government that claims to be green. This Chagos surrender deal is terrible in every respect, including marine conservation.”
Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, said: “Sir Keir Starmer’s outrageous Chagos surrender runs directly against Britain’s national interest. That’s why Iran, China and Russia all support it. And now Brussels is set to benefit too. Not only does this surrender undermine our security and defence, it also opens the door to EU trawlers wrecking the protected waters around the Chagos Islands. It’s disgraceful that hard-pressed British taxpayers are expected to pay £35bn for it.”
The EU has a Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement with Mauritius allowing tuna fishing in waters over which Mauritius has sovereignty or jurisdiction. As the European Commission document makes clear, once the UK transfers sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius, its waters will fall within the scope of the EU-Mauritius fishing agreement.
At present, Chagos is one of the world’s most tightly protected marine environments. For more than a decade, the Royal Navy has policed these waters, preserving a refuge for manta rays, whale sharks, tuna and the globally threatened silky shark.
Under the current agreement the EU pays €725,000 (£632,000) a year, allowing up to 40 tuna purse seiners and 45 surface longliners to catch 5,500 tons annually. The mostly French and Spanish vessels use vast nets, often more than 2km long.
Prof Enric Sala, executive director of National Geographic Pristine Seas, said: “Opening the Chagos ‘no-take’ zone to ‘aggressive’ EU fleets would dismantle this ecological refuge.” He told The Telegraph: “Opening up the Chagos to commercial fishing wouldn’t be a mere policy shift but instead would dismantle a genetic lifeboat that the Indian Ocean desperately needs.”
He described the waters as a global “fish bank” for tuna recovery. He said: “To open the protected area to commercial fishing would rob the ocean of a rare treasure built up over millennia.”
The Blue Marine Foundation has reported Spanish and French vessels entering Chagos waters despite the ban, with Spain logging 12.2 fishing hours inside the zone in 2017 and France recording 85 hours in 2017-18.
Mauritius has indicated it will open the archipelago to fishing once the deal is done. Its November MPA version would allow fishing across 96 per cent of the protected area, which Policy Exchange called a serious downgrade. The think tank warned Mauritius has a “dismal” marine protection record and “no obligation” to maintain the MPA.
Yuan Yi Zhu of Policy Exchange said: “The EU report confirms the catastrophic potential consequences for the environment.”
Richard Ekins KC said: “The prospect of EU fishing fleets descending on the pristine waters of the Chagos archipelago should chill the blood of anyone who cares about the environment.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Both the UK and Mauritius are committed to protecting the MPA.” They welcomed Mauritius’s assurance of no commercial fishing.
A European Commission official declined to answer specific questions on Chagos but said: “The EU pays for access and operates ethically.”
