Along with fish and chips being a pretty big deal in the UK, the matter of fishing grounds is also a vital aspect of Brexit talks with the EU. Negotiations have proven difficult with the EU seeking access to British waters for its boats while proponents of Brexit have been hoping the UK's waters will remain exlusive territory for fishing vessels from the UK.
Under the EU's Common Fisheries Policy, all fleets have access to each other's waters aside from the first 12 nautical miles away from the coast while EU ministers hold annual discussions on the volume of each species caught. Currently, over 60 percent of tonnage in UK waters is caught by foreign boats but this could change with the UK's government seeking to hold annual talks with quotas based on the share of different fish species in each country's exclusive economic zone.
So what species of fish are most commonly landed by UK vessels in UK waters and abroad? According the latest UK Sea Fisheries Statistics from the Marine Management Organisation, the UK's boats caught 152,100 tonnes of mackerel in 2019, 75,500 tonnes of herring and 60,800 tonnes of blue whiting.
