Yesterday the government issued a further 95 licences – 31 of which are temporary – to French vessels, allowing them to use its waters. These are in addition to the 47 permits granted earlier in the year.
But 75 vessels were denied licences and told that, to qualify for one, they have 30 days in which to provide evidence of having fished in Jersey waters for at least ten days in any of the past three full years.
Those boats that have not given evidence within the 30 days will no longer be able to fish here.
External Relations Minister Ian Gorst has urged those vessels to work with Jersey’s authorities before the deadline so they can retain the right to fish around the Island.
He said: ‘We know from our conversations with French counterparts that tensions are running high but what we are saying is that we’re giving this 30-day notice period and that, if you have fished in our waters through that historic period, let’s work together on the data so we can give you a licence.
‘If you haven’t, we can’t give you a licence because it’s not in compliance with the [EU-UK] trade agreement. That’s different from where we were back in May but, equally, we are aware and ready with our contingencies should things get difficult.’
A total of 31 temporary licences, which will last until 31 January, were issued to boats which have not provided enough evidence to receive a full licence.
After signing up to the UK’s post-Brexit trade agreement last December, Jersey gained the sole right to license vessels to fish in its waters. Previously, those fishing rights had been jointly managed with France under the now-defunct Bay of Granville Treaty.
Initially a deadline of 30 April was set for data to be provided to qualify for a licence. This was later extended to 30 June and then to today. Tensions peaked in May when a flotilla of Breton and Norman boats blockaded the Harbour in protest at the new regime.
Senator Gorst said that this time a ‘cliff-edge’ deadline had been avoided.
‘We’ve got the 30-day notice period within which we can work together,’ he said.
Environment Minister John Young said: ‘By issuing these licences in the days ahead, we are ensuring the fishing effort in our waters is similar to pre-Brexit. Those boats with an economic dependence on Jersey waters, who’ve fished here regularly before and have demonstrated it, will receive licences.’
Deputy Young said the government had been ‘flexible in the kinds of positional evidence we’ve accepted, using VMS information, commercially available automatic identification system data, logbooks, chart plotters and other written information’.
But Don Thompson, president of the Jersey Fishermen’s Association, said that he was ‘disgusted’ by the news, claiming licences had been issued to far more boats than had previously used Jersey waters.
‘I actually felt sick when I heard the announcement. It’s a total disgrace that they are not following the TCA agreement that the EU and UK signed up to at all,’ he said.
‘They were meant to be granting access to vessels which historically used our waters. We previously had around 60 to 70 boats that regularly used our waters and they have granted licences to towards 120 French boats, so it’s almost double the amount.
‘What we are looking at is a huge amount of French vessels having access to our waters. I’m very disappointed that nothing has been done to protect our own fleet.
‘We have around 45 local fishermen now and they are going to be struggling to find space to fish.’
The Jersey fishing fleet had also received no assurances that it could land its catches in France, Mr Thomson added.
