According to French media outlet Ouest-France, Annick Girardin has written a strongly worded letter to External Relations Minister Ian Gorst saying that she wanted to see the ‘end of this type of control’, referring to the conditions placed
on the granting of access to Jersey’s waters.
Earlier this month, an investigation was launched after a French boat – the Alizé 3 – was reportedly seen trawling through a protected bream spawning ground. During the incident, fisheries officers, alongside a number of local boats, went out to intercept the vessel.
Those who overheard conversations say that despite assertions from officers on board the Norman Le Brocq fisheries protection vessel that boats should not be operating in the area, the skipper remained adamant that he was entitled to work there. The captain also claimed that authorities in Granville, his home port, told him he could be there.
Ouest-France said that Mme Girardin had asked Senator Gorst ‘to transmit to the European Commission any information justifying the establishment of a no-go zone’. She also said that the conditions placed on fishing licences were considered ‘null and void’.
Following a high-profile protest carried out by French fishermen at the beginning of last month when around 70 Breton and Norman boats blockaded St Helier Harbour, Jersey’s government suspended some of the conditions imposed on the new licences until 1 July to allow more time for French boats to sort the required paperwork.
However, ministers said that two ‘environmental’ conditions remained in force – no trawling in the area where bream reproduce and there is also a limit to the quantity of dredging gear that a boat can pull.
