The 1993 Cherbourg incident were a series of maritime incidents which took place from 26 March to 2 April 1993 between the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
and French fishermen as a result of a
fishing rights dispute in and around the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
waters.
Background
The tensions around the Channel Islands waters began to rise in September 1992, when the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU) recognised a British limit for
exclusive fishing rights around the islands. Until then, British and French trawlers had operated in the zone without restrictions.
[ The agreement left a limit from the coastline where only ]Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
trawlers could fish, an area between the three-mile and the six-mile limits for any British-flagged boat, and an outer zone between the six-mile and the limits, where only British and French fishing boats could operate.[
]
The incidents
The first incident took place on 26 March, when two fishing inspectors from the Channel Islands were illegally taken on the trawler ''Impatiens'' to the French port of Barneville-Carteret
Barneville-Carteret () is a commune in the Manche department in the Normandy region of north-western France. For many years it has been a popular seaside resort destination.
The commune resulted from a merger of two communes in 1964: Barnevill ...
, after the French fishing boat was challenged by the British fishery vessel HMS ''Orkney'' from Guernsey
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency.
It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
,[ which confiscated her pots.] The inspectors were rescued some hours later by a French coastguard vessel.[British Information Services: Survey of current affairs: Volume 23, 1993, p. 95][Daily report. West Europe, 1–15. United States. ]Foreign Broadcast Information Service
The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) was an open source intelligence component of the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Science and Technology. It monitored, translated, and disseminated within the U.S. government openly a ...
, p. 27 On 28 March 1993, HMS ''Blazer'' was paying a visit to Cherbourg Harbour when the local fishermen learned that a boat from their fleet, ''La Calypso'', had been stopped at sea by a British minesweeper, HMS ''Brocklesby''. The captain of ''La Calypso'' refused to submit and set out for Cherbourg with three British fishery protection servicemen on board. A French port vessel later returned the personnel to Royal Navy control.
Eight French trawlers subsequently surrounded the ''Blazer''[ at 3:00 pm and angry fishermen boarded the ship. According to witnesses,][ HMS ''Blazer'' was seized while manoeuvring outside the port and sailed to Cherbourg harbour by the intruders. Her crew of 16 were forced to remain below the deck for three hours, while the ship's ]White Ensign
The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on ...
was burned. French authorities subsequently put an end to the situation and forcibly expelled the fishermen from ''Blazer'' and placed them under arrest. The French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
, meanwhile, dispatched the patrol boat ''Coriander'' to Cherbourg.["French fishermen burn patrol boat's ensign: Minister warns Navy will get tough after two new humiliations in fishing rights dispute"]
''The Independent'', 29 March 1993.
On 29 March a flotilla of 36 French trawlers steamed up to Saint Peter Port
St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958.
St. P ...
in Guernsey, where a preliminary deal was agreed.[ After the first incidents, the Royal Navy deployed unarmed ]Royal Marines
The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
to conduct any future similar law enforcement operations. The marines were from 40 Commando
40 Commando RM is a battalion-sized formation of the British Royal Marines and subordinate unit within 3 Commando Brigade, the principal Commando formation, under the Operational Command of Commander in Chief Fleet. Their barracks are at Norton ...
, based at Taunton
Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
in Somerset. ''La Calypso'' was eventually caught by the fishery vessel HMS ''Jersey'' and her master was put under arrest in Guernsey on 2 April 1993.["French skipper under arrest in Guernsey "]
''The Independent'', 3 April 1993. The skipper, Michel Mesnage, was released on bail on 3 April. A new incident took place on 30 June 1993, when the Guernsey-based trawler ''Sara P'' was seized by the French Navy, and had her pots confiscated.
British and French reactions
A spokeswoman for the French fishermen accused the Royal Navy of "severe provocation", while the British minister of Agriculture
An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...
, John Gummer
John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben, (born 26 November 1939) is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal and now a member of the House of Lords. He was Conservative Party Chairman from 1983 ...
, stated that "The rule of law must be upheld. I have always emphasised the need for fisheries regulations to be properly enforced throughout the EC. The regulations are there to conserve fish and the long-term interests of the fishermen themselves."[ The British Fisheries junior Minister, ]David Curry
David Maurice Curry (born 13 June 1944) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Skipton and Ripon from 1987 to 2010.
Early life
Curry, the son of teachers, was educated at the Ripon Grammar School ...
, claimed that the conflict was caused by the French authorities' failure to properly inform their fishermen about the agreement sanctioned by the EU in 1992, and the French legislative election, which in practice left no French government to deal with at the time of the incidents.[ The British Agriculture Minister had met his elected French counterpart on 1 April, and they had agreed that the 1992 EU decision should be enforced.][ The French government condemned the fishermen's actions. British and Cherbourg fishermen signed an informal agreement on 5 April, on the first day since the beginning of the crisis, that boats from England and the islands were allowed to unload their catch in France.]
A definitive agreement regarding fishing around the Channel Islands and the Cotentin
The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its w ...
peninsula and Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
was reached after an exchange of notes in Paris, on 16 August 1994.
See also
* Cod Wars
The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each o ...
* English Channel scallop fishing dispute
The English Channel scallop fishing dispute, also called the Great Scallop War or guerre de la coquille, occurred on 10 October 2012 or 8 October 2012, between British and French fishermen in the Channel off the coast of Le Havre, France. T ...
* 2021 Jersey dispute
In 2021, a dispute erupted between French fishermen and the Government of Jersey about the licensing of French fishing boats to fish in Jersey's territorial waters. Jersey is a British Crown Dependency, and despite not being part of the Uni ...
* Exclusive economic zone
* International waters
The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...
* Lobster War
The Lobster War (also known as the Lobster Operation; pt, Guerra da Lagosta; french: Conflit de la langouste) was a dispute over spiny lobsters that occurred from 1961 to 1963 between Brazil and France. The Brazilian government refused to allow ...
* Overfishing
Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...
* R (Factortame Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport
R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irelan ...
* Turbot War
The Turbot War (known in Spain as Guerra del Fletán; french: Guerre du flétan) was an international fishing dispute and bloodless conflict between Canada and Spain and their respective supporters.
On 9 March 1995, Canadian officials from the ...
Notes
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherbourg incident, 1993
1993 in France
1993 in Jersey
1993 in the United Kingdom
March 1993 events in Europe
April 1993 events in Europe
1990s in France
20th-century history of the Royal Navy
Battles and conflicts without fatalities
Incident
Incident may refer to:
* A property of a graph in graph theory
* ''Incident'' (film), a 1948 film noir
* Incident (festival), a cultural festival of The National Institute of Technology in Surathkal, Karnataka, India
* Incident (Scientology), a ...
Conflicts in 1993
Fishing in the United Kingdom
Fishing in France
Fishing conflicts
Fisheries law
France–United Kingdom relations
History of fishing
History of the Channel Islands
History of the English Channel
International maritime incidents
Law of the sea
Maritime incidents in France
Maritime incidents in 1993