In the midst of a dispute over post-Brexit fishing licenses, two British vessels fined in the Bay of Seine – LCI

One had refused to comply and the other had no fishing license: two English fishing vessels were fined by the French maritime gendarmerie during checks Wednesday in the Bay of Seine, off Le Havre, announced Annick Girardin, Minister of the Sea, on Twitter.

One of the two English vessels checked on Wednesday, in fishing action, “did not appear on the lists of licenses granted in the United Kingdom” by the European Commission and France, and was diverted to the port of Le Havre by a patroller of the maritime gendarmerie, specifies the ministry in a press release published on the social network. Such a procedure “may lead to the confiscation of the fishery product” and the immobilization of the boat against the payment of a deposit, the ministry said. The captain of the fishing vessel risks penal sanctions.

The other boat, which initially did not comply with the boarding request by the maritime gendarmes, was fined for “obstruction of control”. This did not reveal any other violation of fishing regulations, the ministry said.

A usual check “during the scallop fishing season”, but not only. This episode also testifies to a “Tighter controls in the Channel, in the context of licensing discussions with the UK and the European Commission”. France is in fact in conflict with the United Kingdom over the fishing licenses granted to vessels of the two countries in the post-Brexit era.

The divorce agreement concluded at the end of 2020 between London and Brussels, provides that European fishermen can continue to work in certain British waters provided they can prove that they were fishing there before. But the French and the British argue over the nature and extent of the supporting documents to be provided. In the still disputed fishing areas, off the British coasts and the Channel Islands, London and Jersey have granted a total of just over 210 definitive licenses, while Paris is still asking for 244.

The government announced Wednesday, October 27 the entry into force next Tuesday of the first retaliatory measures against the Channel Islands and London if nothing changes on the British side by November, among which “ban on the landing of products from the British seas and increased customs and sanitary controls. Trucks to and from the UK would also be subject to particularly vigilant control.

France does not “will not let Britain wipe its feet on the Brexit deal”, insisted Gabriel Attal, the spokesperson for the French government, in a press point on Wednesday. Measurements “disappointing” and “disproportionate”, replied his British counterpart, who promised “an appropriate and calibrated response” if these threats were to be carried out.