Britain will take back control of all fishing rights within 200 miles of the coast after
Brexit, according to a Government briefing paper seen by The Daily Telegraph. The UK will no longer be bound by Europe’s Common Fisheries Policy when it leaves the EU, meaning it will revert to UN rules on fishing, which provide for the 200-mile zone, compared to just 12 miles of protected waters under EU policy. Such an action would be deeply damaging to Boulogne. Its larger trawlers are out at sea for five days, spending 80 per cent of their time in UK waters. “It’s all we’ve got really,” says Mr Leprêtre. “There will be bankruptcies if they do take back the waters, no doubt about it. And here, if fishing falls, everything falls.