How Brexit Threatens Falklands' Economy -- And Spanish Fishermen

Madrid, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Apr, 2019 ) :A no-deal Brexit would deal a severe blow to the economy of Britain's Falkland Islands which is heavily dependent on squid exports -- and to Galicia in Spain where almost all of the molluscs are sent.

Fully 94 percent of the catch, mostly squid, exported from the contested South Atlantic archipelago known to Argentina as the Malvinas and occupied by Britain since 1833, is sent to the port of Vigo in northwestern Spain, some 13,000 kilometres (8,000 miles) away.

There the squid are processed or shipped directly to other European nations. About a third of the squid eaten in continental Europe comes from the Falklands, according to the archipelago's government.

Fishing accounts for 40 percent of the economic output of the island group which was at the heart of two-month war between Britain and Argentina in 1982.

And Galician trawlers staffed mainly with Spaniards dominate the sector.

This trade is profitable because no customs tariffs are slapped on the squid since both Britain and Spain belong to the European Union -- but that would end if Britain leaves the bloc without any agreements in place about what their relationship would be in the future.

In that case World Trade Organization (WTO) custom tariff which range from six to 18 percent depending on the nature of the product would apply, according to Richard Hyslop, senior policy advisor to the Falkland Islands government.

"It's critical that we retain our tariff-free access (with the EU)," Teslyn Barkman, who is in charge of managing natural resources and Brexit related issues with the archipelago's government, told AFP by telephone, adding it was a "life or death" issue for the Falkland's economy.