Fishing rights dispute escalates

FRANCE and Britain deployed maritime patrol vessels to the waters off the Channel island of Jersey yesterday as a dispute over post-Brexit fishing rights escalated.

The EU called for calm over the row, which yesterday saw a flotilla of French trawlers sail in protest to Jersey’s main harbour and a French minister suggest earlier in the week that Paris might cut electricity to the island.

French fishermen say they are being unfairly deprived of access to rich fishing grounds off the coast of Jersey, a self-governing British Crown Dependency. Jersey says it is following the rules for issuing licences set out in Britain’s post-Brexit trade deal with the EU. Talks between island officials and representatives of the fishermen were not positive, said Hugo Lehuby, spokesperson for the Normandy Regional Fisheries Committee.

“We’re getting deeper into deadlock,” Lehuby said. “Either this gets resolved, or retaliatory measures are taken.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who led the 2016 Brexit campaign, had cast the trade deal as a way to take back control of the UK’s destiny after Brexit.

Yesterday, he said the two Royal Navy vessels would remain off Jersey as a precautionary measure, according to his office. Jersey’s government said Johnson had assured it of his unwavering support. An official from the French presidency said the deployment of patrol vessels from both France and Britain was aimed at preventing clashes between trawlers on opposing sides of the row.

France is angry that on April 30 Jersey issued 41 licences with what the Paris government called unilaterally imposed conditions, including the time French fishing vessels could spend in Jersey’s waters. Jersey officials have said the accord stipulates licences take into account how much time a vessel spent in Jersey’s waters before Brexit.

The Europe Commission said that until further justifications had been provided by Britain, Jersey officials should not be attaching new conditions to the issuance of licences.

“Full compliance with the TCA (Brexit trade deal) is essential in this process,” commission spokesperson Vivian Loonela told a news briefing.

The fleet of about 50 fishing boats arrived at the shores of Jersey at dawn. At least one French trawler entered the harbour and blocked the Commodore Goodwill, a cargo vessel and ferry that connects the Channel islands to the British mainland.