by Louise Mclean
On Thursday 6th May 2021 up to 100 French fishing vessels blocked the port of St. Helier in Jersey in protest against new rules.
Throughout the Brexit negotiations, which carried on for five years, the French were extremely angry about losing any rights to fishing in British waters, which they had been doing since we joined the European Union in 1972.Things got extremely heated at the end of 2020, when talks between the EU and their British counterparts were putting the final touches to the Brexit deal. The French government were making threats against Britain regarding the slightest reduction in the number of fish they could catch in our territory.
The terms of the final Brexit deal did in fact hardly reduce the number of fish European nations could take around the coast of Britain and only very slightly increased the number British fishermen could have.
Matters have again come to a head with French fishermen demanding the right to catch fish off the Jersey and Guernsey coastline of the Channel Islands.
They were demonstrating against post Brexit rules, which state that from 1st May EU fishermen must submit evidence of their past fishing activities, in order to receive a licence to carry on fishing there.
The reason for the new rules is the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with Britain which was passed by the European Union recently.
Early in the morning of Thursday 6th May 2021 a flotilla of up to 100 French vessels, mainly trawlers and dredgers, blocked the port of St. Helier in Jersey in protest.
Some Frenchmen were even saying it was another Battle of Trafalgar and one knocked into a Jersey pleasure boat, damaging it. Jersey fishermen said it felt like an invasion.
In response, Britain sent two Royal Navy ships, HMS Severn and HMS Tamar, to break up the tense situation, when flares were set off by the French. The French then sent two gun boats to face off the Royal Navy but they were not granted permission to enter UK waters.
The Royal Navy will now remain in the Channel to monitor the situation.
Paris has threatened to cut off electricity to the island of Jersey in retaliation, which is delivered via underwater cable from France.
The Channel Islands are very near the French coast and have been fished by the French for 40 years, so they are up in arms about any changes.
One French fisherman said that they had been told that the Jersey decision is irreversible and that it will affect 250 fishing vessels and 2,000 onshore French jobs.
Apparently 41 licences have already been granted to vessels so far but additional conditions have been added, which are unacceptable to the French. The French maritime minister accused the Channel islands of dragging its feet about issuing licences.
According to Jersey's Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Ian Gorst, all that is necessary is for French fishermen to provide the evidence of the amount of fishing they have done in the past three years in order to receive a licence. He said out of the 41 licences issued, only 17 provided this information. This is apparently a condition of the new T&CA.
The French complain that London has imposed new zoning rules for where their fishermen can and cannot go, the number of days at sea, what machinery they can have, as well as insisting they carry data tracking gear.
The EU is saying Britain has broken the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement but currently Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not agree and has reiterated his unwavering support for Jersey.
Sir David Frost, chief UK negotiator with the EU, Mr. Ian Gorst of Jersey and the British Government are carrying on diplomatic talks with France and the EU Commission in order to resolve the situation.
Lord Frost said that the T&CA gives Jersey the right to regulate the fish in its waters.
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