Post-Brexit licenses: French fishermen block the ports of Calais and Saint-Malo – Franceinfo

Under a (very) gray and rainy sky, the fishermen take the direction of the exit from the port of Calais. CC @franceinfo pic.twitter.com/c3oh7vfeZD

– Benjamin Fontaine (@BenjFontaine) November 26, 2021

It is “put pressure on the British government”, underlined before embarking the president of the fisheries committee of Hauts-de-France, Olivier Leprêtre. He notably denounced the “overexploitation in French waters” generated according to him by the British attitude, amounting to 35 non-issued fishing licenses in Hauts-de-France.

Before Calais, the fishermen targeted the port of Saint-Malo, blocked for about an hour on Friday morning. A dozen fishing boats took part in the operation, activating smoke bombs. Due to the bad weather there was no ferry, but the French ships blocked a fishing boat coming from Jersey, in a good-natured atmosphere. Boats must also block the entry of ferries from the United Kingdom into the port of Ouistreham in the early afternoon.

At the same time, aboard vans, the fishermen have planned to block the access of freight trucks to the freight terminal of the Channel Tunnel. “We don’t want handouts, we just want our licenses back. The UK must respect the post-Brexit deal. Too many fishermen are still left behind.”, insisted Thursday Gérard Romiti, the president of the national fisheries committee during a press conference.