Fish-mageddon: Royal Navy deployed to monitor French fisherman

Two Royal Navy vessels have been deployed to Jersey amid a row about post-Brexit fishing rights. French fisherman are angered by new licences issued in the wake of Brexit. These licenses are said to restrict the days shared waters can be fished.
Until Brexit, a 200-year old treaty defined fishing rights. This is yet another example of how post-Brexit trade deal issues are causing friction between the UK and EU countries.
EU support
The EU backed the fishermen, saying that the changes to the licensing had not been carried out properly. The European Commission told the Guardian in a statement:
The commission was notified on Friday 30 April by UK authorities of the granting of 41 licences to EU vessels for fishing in Jersey’s territorial waters as of 1 May with specific conditions.
Under the EU-UKTCA [trade agreement], any proposed management conditions have to be notified in advance to the other party, giving them sufficient time to assess and react to the proposed measures.
They added that changes must be carried out to a scientific rationale – relating to fishing stocks – and must not discriminate between EU and UK fishing vessels.
Furthermore any addition of new specific conditions to these fishing authorisations that limit EU fishing activities in UK waters must comply with the objectives and principles set out in the TCA, which are based on clear scientific rationale. Any such conditions must also be non-discriminatory between UK and EU vessels.
Read on...
Support us and go ad-free
The EC appear to reject the new conditions which limited the amount of fishing, saying as much in their intervention:
The commission has clearly indicated to the UK that the provisions of the EU-UKTCA have not been respected. Until the UK authorities provide further justifications on the new conditions, these new conditions should not apply.
Patrol ships
The two patrol ships reportedly arrived at 6am and started observing the French flotilla of about 80 ships. The flotilla then head into St Helier’s port.
Downing Street told the Guardian that the ships were there to monitor the situation. According to the Independent, Jersey’s foreign minister Ian Gorst insisted in a radio interview that the situation did not signal war with France:
Absolutely not. But let’s be clear, the threats emanating from Paris, and then the threat today of a blockade of our harbour here in St Helier, are totally disproportionate to the technical issues that we’re facing with the implementation of the Brexit trade deal.
We take those threats very seriously: we’re grateful to the prime minister for his full support, and what we need to do now is find diplomatic solutions to the issues that we’re facing.
Muskets?
The situation amused Twitter users:
*BREAKING*
An elite Brexiteer Fisheries Protection Force has just landed on Jersey: pic.twitter.com/qgLxYDDUaQ
— Guffers (@gavmacn) May 6, 2021
Elsewhere, a member of a Jersey re-enactment group symbolically fired an (apparently empty) musket at French ships.
A member of the Jersey Militia reenactment group was seen firing on the French boats with a musket from Elizabeth Castle this morning.
It's after the flotilla of French fishermen who blockaded Jersey's main harbour returned to open water.https://t.co/0nY4Kja6uw pic.twitter.com/rQQ4yPHvxd
— ITV News Channel TV (@ITVChannelTV) May 6, 2021
The use of military hardware and personnel to solve border issues has become something of a theme under the Tories. Military ships and aircraft were deployed to stop migrants crossing the channel in August 2020. At the time, the mayor of Calais said the UK should take responsibility for its international obligations.
It is not clear how long the Royal Navy ships will remain off the shore of Jersey. However, it does seem increasingly standard practice to militarise issues, like fishing and migration, which previously would not have been dealt with by the armed forces.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Royal Navy
We need your help to keep speaking the truth
Every story that you have come to us with; each injustice you have asked us to investigate; every campaign we have fought; each of your unheard voices we amplified; we do this for you. We are making a difference on your behalf.
Our fight is your fight. You’ve supported our collective struggle every time you gave us a like; and every time you shared our work across social media. Now we need you to support us with a monthly donation.
We have published nearly 2,000 articles and over 50 films in 2021. And we want to do this and more in 2022 but we don’t have enough money to go on at this pace. So, if you value our work and want us to continue then please join us and be part of The Canary family.
In return, you get:
* Advert free reading experience
* Quarterly group video call with the Editor-in-Chief
* Behind the scenes monthly e-newsletter
* 20% discount in our shop
Almost all of our spending goes to the people who make The Canary’s content. So your contribution directly supports our writers and enables us to continue to do what we do: speaking truth, powered by you. We have weathered many attempts to shut us down and silence our vital opposition to an increasingly fascist government and right-wing mainstream media.
With your help we can continue:
* Holding political and state power to account
* Advocating for the people the system marginalises
* Being a media outlet that upholds the highest standards
* Campaigning on the issues others won’t
* Putting your lives central to everything we do
We are a drop of truth in an ocean of deceit. But we can’t do this without your support. So please, can you help us continue the fight?
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.
Two words;
1. sledgehammer
2. nuts
enough said.
The Brexshiteer Tories are so incompetent that cannot even manage Rome’s ‘Bread and Circuses’ to quell the people. They can only do ‘Circuses’.
Still, what would expect of clowns?
Even ones clearly escaped from a Stephen King nightmare.
Sadly, we can certainly expect more of this. It’s also how the right wing ‘populist’ govts in the rest of the world do business.