Sandeel: Brexit fishing line prepares for trade court showdown

Sandeel, a group of small eel-like fish species, is a jointly managed fish stock under a trade agreement. It is not caught for culinary reasons and cannot be found on restaurant menus in European capitals.

But it is a favorite food of other fish species such as cod and haddock, as well as endangered seabirds such as puffins and kittiwakes.

The UK has effectively stopped its vessels catching the species through a licensing regime from 2021, as it is required to prevent overfishing and protect the North Sea’s ecosystem.

Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government then banned all vessels from catching the species in British waters, following a similar ban in Scottish waters by ministers in the SNP-led Scottish government in March last year.

It has won UK praise from talk groups that have long campaigned for an outright ban, and Sir Keir’s Labor government has kept the ban in place since coming to power in July.

But it has angered Danish fishermen, who sell sandalwood to animal feed and fish oil manufacturers and have the right to fish the vast majority of the species in UK EU waters under a post-Brexit trade deal.