Sandeel, a group of small eel-like fish species, is a jointly managed fish stock under the trade deal. It is not caught for culinary reasons and is unlikely to be found on restaurant menus in European capitals.
But it is a favourite food of other fish species like cod and haddock, as well as threatened seabirds such as puffins and kittiwakes.
The UK has effectively stopped its own vessels from fishing the species since 2021 through its licensing regime, on the grounds it is required to prevent overfishing and protect the North Sea ecosystem.
Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government then banned all vessels from catching the species in English waters of the sea in March last year, with a similar ban in Scottish waters brought in by ministers in the SNP-led Scottish government.
It won the UK plaudits from conservation groups, which had long campaigned for an outright ban, and Sir Keir’s Labour government has kept the ban in place since taking power in July.
But it has outraged Danish fishermen, who sell sandeel to animal feed and fish oil producers and under the post-Brexit trade deal hold the right to fish the overwhelming majority of the EU’s share of the species in UK waters.
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