French fishermen close the port of Calais over a fishing license row

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CALIS, France (November 26) (Reuters) – French fishermen closed the port of Calais on Friday and temporarily prevented two ferries carrying trucks and passengers from entering, in protest of the United Kingdom’s failure to issue more fishing licenses in British waters.

In an attempt to disrupt trade, many fishing vessels maneuvered to force DFDS and P&O ferries to reduce speed and stay out of port, a major entry point into the continental market for British goods.

The 90-minute blockade marked an escalation of the post-Brexit dispute between London and Paris over fishing rights in Britain’s coastal waters.

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Britain says any licenses that have been withheld lack the proper documentation to issue them.

The Marine Traffic app showed that the two ferries out of port slowed down on Friday until their course was clear.

The protest then moved to the Channel Tunnel, where fishermen stopped goods heading to and from Britain via the Canal Railway.

Dover-Calais is the shortest sea route between Britain and the European Union – at 23 miles (37 km) – and has been one of the main arteries of European trade to Britain since the Middle Ages.

Before Brexit and the pandemic, 1.8 million trucks a year were routed through Calais.

Earlier today, fishermen prevented a small British cargo, the Normandy Trader, from docking at the Brittany port of Saint Malo. France says Jersey, a British Crown affiliation, has also failed to issue licenses because of its poachers under a post-Brexit deal.

The hour-long Saint-Malo protest and the larger measure in the east along the French coast threatens to reignite the feud between the two countries over the mutual licensing system for fishing vessels.

They are also embroiled in a row over cross-channel migration. Read more

gentle patience

With Britain leaving the European Union, the two sides agreed to create a licensing system to give fishing vessels access to each other’s waters.

Paris says that London and the Channel Island of Jersey, which is part of the British Crown, do not honor the agreement. Read more

Britain says it respects post-Brexit arrangements.

In October, France briefly detained a British scallop dredger off its northern coast allegedly operating without a legitimate permit, and this year both countries have sent patrol boats to the waters off Jersey. Read more

President Emmanuel Macron accused Britain of putting pressure on his country’s patience and said the government would not compromise on the dispute.

Fishing rights have been blocking Brexit talks for years, not because of their economic importance but because of their political importance to both Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Separately, the French government said British Home Secretary Priti Patel was no longer welcome at Sunday’s meeting on immigration with other European officials after Johnson criticized France over its handling of cross-channel immigration.

The meeting is due to deal with how to stem the flow of migrants after 27 people drowned while trying to reach British shores on Wednesday. Read more

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Stephen Mahe reports. Written by Richard Love, Editing by Sudeep Kar Gupta and John Stonestreet, Eileen Hardcastle

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