Jersey fears French fishermen will besiege amid new row between Britain and France | jersey

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The Jersey government has warned of a new danger of angry fishermen blocking its main port after a third of French boats seeking to fish in its waters were rejected by the British Crown, heightening tensions between London and Paris.

The island’s foreign affairs minister, Ian Gorst, said his government had taken a “hands-on” approach in issuing 64 full and 31 temporary licenses to French boats, in addition to the 47 already licensed vessels earlier this year.

But he emphasized that another 75 French boats whose applications had been received were rejected because they “did not meet the criteria and either did not fish in Jersey waters during the relevant period or could not prove their activity,” the government said. “These 75 ships are given 30 days’ notice before the transitional arrangements expire, after which they will no longer be able to reach Jersey waters.”

Gorst said he was open to any of those boats providing new evidence to support the statement while acknowledging the risk of retaliation from affected fishing communities, particularly in Brittany.

“I think we acknowledge that sentiment is running high in the fish community in northern France and I hope there will not be any blockades, but we are not naive enough not to realize that we really need to work together to ease fears and make progress because that is still a possibility,” he said.

Gorst said that while some applicants may previously have had permits to fish in Jersey waters, the EU-UK trade agreement only provides rights for those who can prove they actually worked in those waters for at least 11 days in the three days. previous. Years.

Log Chesnais-Girard, head of the Brittany Regional Council, tweeted: “I am asking the European Union to take all possible retaliatory measures to allow such a decision to be reviewed. Together, the fishermen, the authorities and the European Union, we must unite to bring the UK back to mind.”

France’s Maritime Affairs Minister, Annick Girardin, had already accused the British government on Wednesday morning of taking her country’s fishermen political hostages after the British government made a separate decision on Tuesday to refuse to let most of their ships in. to its coastal waters.

The United Kingdom announced that it had approved only 12 out of 47 applications for new licenses for small boats to fish in the six to 12-mile coastal zone.

“It is a new refusal by the British to implement the terms of the Brexit agreement despite all the work that has been done together,” Girardin said. “I only have one password; for the final licenses of our fishermen as the agreement expects… the British must not take the French fisherman hostage for political purposes.”

The French government said 87 small fishing vessels had applied for permits, not 47 as London said. Paris in particular called on the European Commission to use the tools in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement agreed with the UK last Christmas Eve to force the UK to be more cooperative.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said it would seek full transparency from the UK authorities about its decision. “We will continue to be more involved in the interest of our fishermen and women until more licenses are available,” he said.

EU sources provided a skeptical analysis of the developments. Someone suggested that the decisions had been timed before the Conservative Party conference. “This is a game for them,” a source in Brussels suggested.

Gorst said Jersey had sought to coordinate with the UK’s decision but denied the timing was linked to the Conservative Party conference, where a row with France over post-Brexit fishing rights would likely go well with party faithful.

In May, Boris Johnson ordered the deployment of two Royal Navy patrol boats to Jersey to protect the islanders from a frightening siege by French trawlers, who complained that they had been unfairly cut off from the island’s fishing waters. The French government accused the island’s authorities of imposing conditions unfairly harmful to French fishermen. Jersey has extended the transition period to open talks with French authorities and the fishing community ahead of Wednesday’s decision.

“Jersey has maintained a pragmatic, reasonable and evidence-based approach throughout, and has extended the transition period on a number of occasions thus far, despite not being required under the TCA to do so,” Gorst said.

“We are now in a position to ensure that those boats fishing in these waters can continue to do so, so it is time, next month, for our transitional arrangements to end.

“We thank the United Kingdom, the European Union and the authorities in France for their efforts to provide us with the additional data, and I am keen to commend the tireless work of our officers to follow up, collect and analyze the information.”

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