The pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) called the deal a sell-out and a Conservative Party member of the British parliament said it could not be sold as a success.
According to a transition deal published on Monday, the UK will remain within the European Union Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which covers fishing stocks and vessel access, for the 20-month period after the UK leaves the EU.
Fishing is a particularly sensitive subject as it is an industry primarily based in Scotland.
Tensions are already high north of the border because of a dispute over how Brexit will change the balance of powers devolved out of London, including those covering fishing and agriculture. The SNP-led Scottish government and its Welsh counterpart have accused Prime Minister Theresa May’s government of mounting a power grab.
May does not have a majority in the UK’s parliament and will rely on the backing of the 13 Scottish Conservative lawmakers to push through a final Brexit deal.
Ruth Davidson, the Conservative leader in Scotland, said it was disappointing that the UK would have to wait until 2020 to assume full control over fishing rights.
“Having spoken to fishing leaders today, I know they are deeply frustrated with this outcome,” she said.
“I should make it clear today that I will not support a deal as we leave the EU which, over the long-term, fails to deliver that full control over fish stocks and vessel access,” said Davidson, who is not a member of the Westminster parliament.
Douglas Ross, a Conservative who represents one of Scotland’s main fishing areas, Moray, also said he could not support a deal that does not give full control.
“There is no spinning this as a good outcome,” he said.
The fishing industry blames the EU policy for what they say is the destruction of fishing since the UK joined the EU four decades ago, and support for Brexit in the sector is high.
The Scottish government’s Rural Economy Secretary, the SNP’s Fergus Ewing, attacked the Conservatives, saying they had delivered the worst possible outcome for Scotland’s fishing industry.
“The Tories have demonstrated once again that for them Scottish interests are expendable,” Ewing said. “They now think they can do whatever they want to Scotland and get away with it.”
Europe imports about 75% of Britain’s fishing catch. The UK wants to allow foreign ships to fish in its waters after Brexit but wants to decide itself the extent of that access.
After transition, the UK will negotiate as “an independent coastal state,” a British government spokesman said.
The UK had won agreement for safeguards in the annual fishing negotiation for 2019, the spokesman said, with the EU having to consult the UK ahead of the negotiations, as well as a commitment that the British share of the total catch cannot be changed.
The transition deal flies in the face of statements by Davidson and environment minister Michael Gove, another Scot, who last week set out a view that control over fishing was “vital” to Scotland, raising expectations that British control over fishing would be achieved from Brexit day in March 2019.