In 2021, a dispute erupted between French fishermen and the

Government of Jersey , image = , caption=Logos of the Government of Jersey in English and Jèrriais , date = , state = Jersey , address = 19-21 Broad Street, Saint Helier , appointed = Chief Minister, with approva ...

about the licensing of French fishing boats to

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

in Jersey's

territorial waters The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potent ...

. Jersey is a British Crown Dependency, and despite not being part of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the licensing of European Union fishing boats to fish in Jersey's territorial waters has changed after the UK exit from the EU. On 6 May 2021, French fishermen held a protest in the waters off Jersey's main harbour. The UK is responsible for the defence of 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, ...

and sent two

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...

s to Jersey in response to the fishermen's threats to blockade it. French politicians suggested that Jersey's electricity supply fed by undersea cables from France could be cut off in retaliation for Jersey placing limitations on the extent to which French boats can fish in the island's waters. , 131 boats had received permanent licences. Jersey considered the dispute to remain a live issue and were awaiting any formal complaint that France may lodge with the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

. The Jersey government continued to hold off enforcing some of the conditions of the French fishermen's licences, but intended to revisit them.

Background

Jersey is a Crown Dependency. Although the island was never part of the UK nor EU, in 1996 it signed a fisheries management agreement with the UK that enabled the Jersey fleet's catch to be treated 'as if from the UK' and required it to comply with the UK’s EU obligations under the EU's Common Fisheries Policy for Jersey's extended territorial sea. Two-thirds of the shellfish consumed in France comes from the

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

fishing fleet, supporting 4,000 jobs. The fishing grounds surrounding Jersey are rich and diverse, with species including

whelk Whelk (also known as scungilli) is a common name applied to various kinds of sea snail. Although a number of whelks are relatively large and are in the family Buccinidae (the true whelks), the word ''whelk'' is also applied to some other marin ...

, brown crab, cuttlefish, lobster,

spider crab The Majoidea are a superfamily of crabs which includes the various spider crabs. Taxonomy In "''A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans''" De Grave and colleagues divided Majoidea into six families: * Family Epialti ...

, scallop,

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shel ...

, sole, ray and sea bream. French fishermen like to fish in Jersey's waters because they are wider and deeper, which often leads to catching bigger produce. Jersey boats seldom fish in French waters.

Normal relations between Jersey and the neighbouring French coastal towns

Jersey has historically enjoyed a cordial relationship with its

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

and

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

neighbours. Jersey was part of the

Duchy of Normandy The Duchy of Normandy grew out of the 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between King Charles III of West Francia and the Viking leader Rollo. The duchy was named for its inhabitants, the Normans. From 1066 until 1204, as a result of the Norman c ...

until 1204. The port of Barneville-Carteret is only from Jersey's capital

Saint Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...

, and the larger ports of Granville and

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

are and away respectively. There is a passenger ferry service from the Norman ports to Saint Helier, and a fast ferry carrying foot passengers and vehicles to Saint Malo. The marinas in the four ports are popular destinations for recreational boat owners. Eleven of the twelve parishes of Jersey are twinned with towns in Normandy, and the game of

pétanque Pétanque (, ; oc, petanca, , also or ) is a sport that falls into the category of boules sports, along with raffa, bocce, boule lyonnaise, lawn bowls, and crown green bowling. In all of these sports, players or teams play their boules/balls ...

is played competitively between teams on the island and those of Norman towns. Jersey and Guernsey share the a

representative office A representative office is an office established by a company or a legal entity to conduct marketing and other non-transactional operations, generally in a foreign country where a branch office or subsidiary is not warranted. Representative office ...

in Caen, the capital of Normandy, and the departmental council of

Manche Manche (, ) is a coastal French département in Normandy, on the English Channel, which is known as ''La Manche'', literally "the sleeve", in French. It had a population of 495,045 in 2019.regional council of Normandy shares an equivalent office in Jersey the which is also the office of the French

honorary consul A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

. Since 1985, Jersey has imported low-cost, low-carbon electricity from Normandy through undersea cables that form the

Channel Islands Electricity Grid The Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG) is the joint company set up in 1998 between Guernsey Electricity and Jersey Electricity to operate and manage the submarine cables between mainland Europe and the Channel Islands. The grid physically com ...

. Jersey retains the ability to generate all its own electricity but the

Jersey Electricity Company The Jersey Electricity Company or Jersey Electricity (informally JEC or JE) is a public limited company, and the sole provider for electricity in Jersey. The JEC has two sites around the island: Queen's Road, St Helier, the site of two Rolls-Ro ...

only does so in the event of a failure of the French link which provides 95% of the island's power. Speaking in the

French Senate The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' a ...

on 5 May 2021, Béatrice Gosselin said "I can see Jersey chimneys from home, we all are ' anglo-normands' ... Our lives are linked to each other, it’s been the case for centuries. We have to take those very particular conditions into account, the life between Jersey and the Manche coast has always existed and we need to put that at the forefront and work hard to find solutions that are fair for everyone."

Granville Bay agreement

Historically, Jersey controlled its territorial waters up to from its coast and around the

Minquiers The Minquiers (''Les Minquiers''; in Jèrriais: ''Les Mîntchièrs'' ; known as "the Minkies" in local English) are a group of islands and rocks, about south of Jersey. They form part of the Bailiwick of Jersey. They are administratively part ...

and

Écréhous The Écréhous (or in Jèrriais: ''Êcrého'') are a group of islands and rocks situated six miles (9.6 km) north-east of Jersey, and eight miles (12.8 km) from France. They form part of the Bailiwick of Jersey and are administrativel ...

reefs which are part of the Bailiwick of Jersey. The area between Jersey and France's coastal waters was common sea, not belonging to or controlled by anyone. In 1839 the first treaty on fishing in waters between Jersey and France was made, limited to regulating

oyster farming Oyster farming is an aquaculture (or mariculture) practice in which oysters are bred and raised mainly for their pearls, shells and inner organ tissue, which is eaten. Oyster farming was practiced by the ancient Romans as early as the 1st century ...

. Slight amendments were made in 1920 and again in 1951 when the words 'oyster fishing' were omitted to widen the scope of the agreement, effectively giving French fishermen the right to fish up to three miles off Jersey's coast without restrictions or controls. By 1981 the growth in fishing and reducing stocks meant it was inadequate for modern fishing practices. From 1992 until 2000, Jersey Senator Pierre Horsfall negotiated a new agreement with his French counterparts. The ''Agreement Between The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and The French Republic Concerning Fishing In The Bay of Granville'' was signed on 4 July 2000 by Michael Wilkes,

Lieutenant Governor of Jersey The Lieutenant Governor of Jersey (, Jèrriais: ''Gouvèrneux d'Jèrri'') is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Jersey, a Crown dependency of the British Crown. The Lieutenant Governor has his own flag in Jersey, ...

on behalf of

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

and Daniel Bernard, French ambassador on behalf of France, but its implementation would require changes to the legislation in both Jersey and France. It came into force on 1 January 2004, giving Jersey and France shared responsibility for the management of fishing in the area between off Jersey’s coast under terms of the agreement. As of February 2020, 392 French boats had active permits to fish under the terms of the agreement, 67 of which actively use Jersey's waters to fish. Provisions of the agreement included: * Vessels require a permit to fish commercially in the area * A joint management committee composed of officials from France and Jersey would issue the permits and in doing so control the level of fishing effort in the area such as by increasing or reducing the number and size of boats, the type of fishing gear used and the level of catch allowed * A joint advisory committee would represent the fishermen on both sides, giving them a forum to resolve disputes and enabling to engage with the government officials and scientists. After the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 there was a

transition period The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Uni ...

of one year where EU law continued to apply to the UK. At the end of this period the Bay of Granville Agreement no longer had effect and Jersey's fishing relationship with France changed to be governed by the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Under the new agreement Jersey must allow licensed European vessels that have historically fished in its territorial waters to continue to do so. According to newspaper ''

Ouest-France ''Ouest-France'' ( ; French for "West-France") is a daily French newspaper known for its emphasis on both local and national news. The paper is produced in 47 different editions covering events in different French départments within the régio ...

'', French fishermen were wary of the changes and were considering ways to retaliate if their fishing rights were curtailed, including "'blackmail' in landing fish, to energy since submarine cables supply the islands from Normandy or in freight or customs duties".

Trade agreement

The EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was signed by the EU and UK on 30 December 2020 after nearly ten months of trade negotiations. Three days earlier, Jersey formally agreed to be included in the deal, ensuring that it could continue to trade with Europe without

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and pol ...

s. Its

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

the States of Jersey were given until the end of March to properly scrutinise the detail of the agreement. Once

ratified Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent that lacked the authority to bind the principal legally. Ratification defines the international act in which a state indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty if the parties inten ...

, Jersey took sole responsibility for managing its territorial waters. Any restrictions it places on fishing must apply equally to Jersey and EU boats. The TCA initially only provisionally applied until it formally came into force on 1 May 2021 after the UK and EU ratified the agreement.

Fishing permits

When Jersey's Environment Minister John Young announced that Jersey would be taking full control of its territorial waters in December 2020, he expressed hope that a new system would better ensure the ecological conservation of fishing stocks in the Island's waters. On 14 February 2020, 100 Jersey fishermen and supporters staged a protest in St Helier for action to be taken against overfishing. The president of the Jersey Fishermen's Association stated during the protest that "It's all about the marine environment and taking care of it and looking after it for future generations." The TCA says that "each Party shall grant vessels of the other Party access to fish in its waters reflecting the actual extent and nature of fishing activity that it can be demonstrated was carried out during the period beginning on 1 February 2017 and ending on 31 January 2020 by qualifying vessels of the other Party in the waters and under any treaty arrangements that existed on 31 January 2020." On 25 January 2021 the Government of Jersey and EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius agreed to formalise the amnesty period that Jersey had introduced, allowing French boats over long to continue to fish until the end of April 2021. This was intended to enable EU fishermen to gather and submit the necessary evidence of their historic fishing activities in Jersey waters. On 23 April 2021 Jersey implemented the provisions of the TCA in its domestic legislation through amendments to the Sea Fisheries (Jersey) Law 1994 and Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats) (Jersey) Regulations 2003, which defined the process for licensing of fishing boats operating in its waters. The change means that Jersey now controls fishing activities for EU boats in Jersey waters which is of concern especially to French fishermen. According to the Normandy and Brittany fishers' federations it affects 250 of their fishing boats, about 900 families and 2,000 jobs on land. The new permit system came into force for vessels over long equipped with

vessel monitoring system Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) is a general term to describe systems that are used in commercial fishing to allow environmental and fisheries regulatory organizations to track and monitor the activities of fishing vessels. They are a key part of ...

s (VMS) at the end of the amnesty period on 30 April 2021, and the

issued 41 permits, with a further 14 pending as of that date, out of 344 requests. When the fishermen received their licences via email there was surprise that they came with conditions, some of which were specific to their boat, including: * how many days a boat may fish in Jersey waters, ranging from 7 to 170 days per year * what species they may target * what fishing gear can be used, and how dredging can be done * temporary exclusion from sea bream

spawning ground Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquat ...

s to enable scientific research to take place However, Jersey later suspended these extra conditions and also allowed for additional types of positional data to be accepted as evidence of historical fishing in addition to VMS such as

AIS AIS may refer to: Medicine * Abbreviated Injury Scale, an anatomical-based coding system to classify and describe the severity of injuries * Acute ischemic stroke, the thromboembolic type of stroke * Androgen insensitivity syndrome, an intersex ...

, logbooks, chart plotters and other written information, as well as

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

. Young clarified that the fishing licensing scheme will allow Jersey to monitor and control an environmentally sustainable level of fishing in Jersey's territorial waters. Young further stated that; "Our fishing has been unsustainable because of overfishing in the past and I've been clear about that and there will need to be conservation measures. What we’ve got is a framework of licensing that creates a fair way of doing it, so both ourselves and the EU nations can have sustainable fishing." On 29 September 2021, the Jersey government issued a total of 142 fishing permits, but stated they had rejected permits for 75 French vessel citing that they "do not meet the criteria and have either not fished in Jersey waters during the relevant period or have not been able to evidence their activity”. In reciprocity, Jersey boats that have traditionally fished in French waters are expected to be given a permit to continue by the French authorities. only three Jersey fishing boats had applied for such a permit. A similar licensing regime exists for Jersey boats that wanted to continue to fish in Guernsey's territorial waters. When that was introduced, only 18 of the 165 boats in Jersey's fishing fleet were granted licences, having provided sufficient proof of a track record of fishing in the area controlled by Guernsey. The temporary licences expired on 1 February 2022, with 130 vessels permanently licensed. Young said that the island now intended to focus on the 'nature' and 'extent' clauses which were intended to limit how many days the boats could fish in Jersey waters, the species they could catch and the equipment they could use. Around 30 boats that had been given temporary licences would no longer be able to fish in Jersey waters, having not produced the evidence required. By 9 March 2022, one more boat had received a permanent licence, bringing the total to 131.

Dispute

In February 2021, Jersey fishermen protested over their concerns that French fishing boats were exploiting the amnesty period by overfishing in Jersey's waters. Further concerns were raised in April that French fishing trawlers were using unsustainable fishing methods such as dredging during the amnesty period. Young accused French trawlers of "breaking the spirit of the amnesty" and that due to recent dredging by French trawlers that Jersey's marine ecology "won’t take this for much longer and, if it goes on, we will have to close the area off for years". The TCA says that "each Party shall notify the other Party of new measures as referred to in paragraph 1 that are likely to affect the vessels of the other Party before those measures are applied, allowing sufficient time for the other Party to provide comments or seek clarification." The French government said that these conditions had not been discussed previously and therefore had no effect. Jersey may not have received the information that the French fishermen provided to evidence their historic fishing activity in Jersey's waters. When a French fishing boat applies for a licence, the request is submitted by the French local authorities to the EU who forward it to the United Kingdom Single Issuing Authority (UKSIA) who forward it to Jersey. In an interview with

France Bleu France Bleu is a network of local and regional radio stations in France, part of the national public broadcasting group Radio France. The network has a public service mission to serve local audiences and provides local news and content from each ...

, Jersey politician Deputy Gregory Guida, a Frenchman by nationality, said "what we received was of very poor quality. The French administration sent us horrors: missing or duplicated documents of boats with just the minimum 10 days to issue licences without additional information to determine the importance of their annual activity in our waters." Normandy politician Gosselin told the fishermen that the missing documents may have been lost somewhere between the committee that checks that the information is complete, the '' Direction des pêches maritimes et de l’aquaculture'' (DPMA), the Minister of the Sea and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. The Normandy Regional Fisheries Committee (CRPMEM) called her comments "irresponsible" and described the situation as "formidably complex". French fishermen may have believed it was sufficient to produce evidence of ten days of fishing to receive a permit for the whole year, while in fact they needed to produce a minimum of ten days of evidence, plus evidence for the most number of days per year they had fished in the island's waters in the past three years.

6 May protest

and

fishermen met in Granville on 3 May, with some intent on blockading the port of Saint Helier on 6 May in protest at the system. In the evening of the 5 May, UK

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

said "any blockade would be completely unjustified" and announced that the

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 ...

would send two patrol vessels to monitor the waters around Jersey as a precautionary measure. He also held meetings with Senator

John Le Fondré John Alexander Nicholas Le Fondré is a Jersey politician who was the fourth Chief Minister of Jersey. He entered the States Assembly in 2005 as deputy for the Parish of St Lawrence, and was re-elected to this position in 2011 and 2014. Durin ...

, the

Chief Minister of Jersey The Chief Minister of Jersey (french: Premier/ère Ministre de Jersey; nrf, label= Jèrriais, Chef Minnistre dé Jèrri) is the head of government of Jersey, leading the Council of Ministers, which makes up part of the Government of Jersey. T ...

and Senator

Ian Gorst Ian Joseph Gorst (born 15 December 1969) is a Jersey politician who has been a Deputy for St Mary, St Ouen and St Peter and Minister for Treasury and Resources since 2022. Gorst was first elected to the States Assembly in the 2005 gene ...

, the island's Minister of External Relations, telling them of the need for a "de-escalation in tensions". On 6 May, and arrived off the south coast of Jersey where they maintained a presence and monitored the situation from a distance, but did not intervene. Later two French patrol boats, and began patrolling just outside of the limit, remaining in French waters. Between 50 and 60 French fishing boats including trawlers and smaller craft entered the Saint Helier Harbour area, remaining outside the pierheads and for a time obstructing the freight ferry from leaving her berth. Some lit distress flares and others displayed banners. The fishermen communicated amongst themselves over

marine VHF radio Marine VHF radio is a worldwide system of two way radio transceivers on ships and watercraft used for bidirectional voice communication from ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore (for example with harbormasters), and in certain circumstances ship-to-a ...

. They were joined by a Jersey

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...

fisherman supportive of the French on his converted landing craft, the ''Normandy Trader''. One of the French fishermen said that having just spent €3m on two new trawlers he could go

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

if not allowed to continue to fish in Jersey waters on the same basis as before. A member of the Jersey Militia reenactment group was seen at

Elizabeth Castle Elizabeth Castle () is a castle and tourist attraction, on a tidal island within the parish of Saint Helier, Jersey. Construction was started in the 16th century when the power of the cannon meant that the existing stronghold at Mont Orgueil wa ...

firing a musket towards the French boats. A French fishing boat was filmed appearing to ram one of the only Jersey boats in the vicinity of the protest a speedboat driven by a local entrepreneur who is alleged to have taunted the Frenchmen. Jersey's

harbourmaster A harbourmaster (or harbormaster, see spelling differences) is an official responsible for enforcing the regulations of a particular harbour or port, in order to ensure the safety of navigation, the security of the harbour and the correct opera ...

later investigated the altercation, but no charges were brought. Show des Batchieaux Jersey Boat Show 2012 09

At 11:40am, two hours of discussions began in Saint Helier Harbour. In order to respect

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dis ...

rules, Jersey officials aboard Jersey's fisheries protection vessel the ''Norman Le Brocq'' came alongside the ''Normandy Trader'' which had representatives of the French fishermen aboard. The lead representative from Jersey was its Assistant Minister for The Environment Deputy Guida a fluent French speaker. Senator Gorst said the talks were positive, however a spokesman for Normandy fishermen said the talks put them "deeper into deadlock", and warned that retaliatory measures would be taken if this did not get resolved. The protest ended at around 2pm. Boris Johnson said the

vessels would remain in place, but both ships left the area that evening. The protest was front-page news on most UK national newspapers whereas there was minimal coverage in France. On 19 May, the French trawler ''Alizé 3'' was intercepted illegally fishing in restricted

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Acanthopagrus'', ''Argyrops'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', ''Etelis'', '' L ...

breading grounds. The trawler had been told by French authorities that French fishermen were allowed to fish wherever they wanted, despite the risk of breaking Jersey law. In August, another French trawler was accused of illegally fishing 1.2 tonnes of protected

bluefin tuna Bluefin tuna is a common name used to refer to several species of tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, th ...

in Jersey's territorial waters.

Closure of ports in Normandy to Jersey fishermen and freight

Jersey exports much of the fish that is caught locally by its own fishing fleet to France, landing it at the ports of Carteret, Granville or Saint Malo. Jersey boats registered with

North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) is a general regional fishery management organisation that maintains controls over fishing and fishing-related acts in the North Sea, the Irish Sea, the Nordic Seas, the Barents Sea, the White ...

can land

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

s and

fin fish Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, bot ...

they have caught, as these species are exempt from the EU sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements for an Export Health Certificate. However, specific French permission is required before each landing. Scallops, clams and whelks cannot be landed into the EU without a health certificate. On 10 March 2021, Jersey fishermen blocked the island's harbour to draw attention to being prevented from landing their catch in French harbours since Brexit. The day after the 6 May protest, a Jersey fishing boat was prevented from landing its catch of cuttlefish in Carteret by French fishermen who lined the quay. On 7 May, the Manche government formally notified the Government of Jersey that it was suspending the landing of catches by Jersey boats in Granville, Carteret and Diélette until further notice. Jersey's government said it considered the ban to be non-compliant with the terms of the TCA and it would appeal to the European Commission. The ban was temporarily lifted on 10 May but was reinstated the following day and extended to prevent

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...

movements. Jersey businesses that regularly export fish to France were warned that even if the ports were officially open to Jersey exporters, local fishermen may obstruct them trying to offload their produce. On 7 September, Jersey's Environment Minister told a scrutiny panel that work to rebuild relationships had led to better cooperation with the French, and the Government of Jersey was "not getting the complaints that tused to with landing, hostility, or anything of that nature anymore, that has gone away".

18 September protest

At midday on 18 September, between 100 and 150 fishermen, their families and officials gathered on Armanville beach, Pirou to highlight the licensing issue and put pressure on the Jersey authorities. The beach is where ''Normandie 3'', one of the three undersea electricity cables to Jersey is buried.

Reactions

On 3 May, the

region and the Manche department closed their combined offices in Jersey, which were set up in 1995, to protest their discontent and lack of understanding. The ''Maison de Normandie'' reopened on 1 July. Annick_Girardin

On 5 May, the Maritime Minister

Annick Girardin Annick Girardin (born 3 August 1964) is a French politician of the Radical Party who served as Minister of the Sea in the government of Prime Minister Jean Castex (2020–2022), Minister of Overseas France in the government of Prime Minis ...

said France was "ready to use... retaliatory measures" including cutting off the island's power supply from France. Former UK

Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a membe ...

Penny Mordaunt Penelope Mary Mordaunt (; born 4 March 1973) is a British politician who has been Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) ...

wrote in a letter to the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Kwasi Kwarteng Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng (born 26 May 1975) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Spelthorne (UK Parliament constituency), S ...

that the proposed £1.2bn AQUIND Interconnector between Normandy and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

which would supply up to 5% of the UK's electricity needs should not proceed because of the risk that it would "become politicised and involved in any future discussions, in particular on fishing". On the evening of the protest the UK Government issued a statement saying that under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, Jersey authorities have a right to regulate fisheries in their waters and that they continue to support them in exercising those rights. In the week after the protest, MEP

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (born 28 March 1974) is a French lawyer and politician of La République En Marche! (LREM) who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. Early career In the late 1990s, Yon-Courtin spent nearly ...

suggested that the EU could apply

economic sanction Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they ma ...

s by restricting agreements permitting Jersey to sell its financial services to EU citizens, and accused Jersey of being a

tax haven A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

. She said Jersey should withdraw from the TCA and revert to an agreement similar to the previous Granville Bay treaty that would provide more access to Jersey waters for French fishermen. The

spokesperson Vivian Loonela said UK was breaking the Brexit trade deal. The UK

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, also referred to as the environment secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the Department for Environment, Food ...

George Eustice Charles George Eustice (born 28 September 1971) is a British politician and former public relations executive who held office as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs between 2020 and 2022. A member of the Conservative Par ...

called the threat to shut down electricity to Jersey "disproportionate and unacceptable".

Related disputes

In October 2020, the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

passed the Fisheries Act 2020. It includes a 'permissive extent clause' that would enable the

Government of the United Kingdom ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

by an

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to extend the provisions of the Act to cover the Crown Dependencies to bring them into line with the UK's international obligations. This move caused outrage in Jersey as it was seen to be contrary to Jersey's constitutional relationship with the UK. It was reported that the UK intended to cede Jersey's territorial waters as a bargaining chip in order to secure a better deal with the EU. This was denied by the British government.

Attempts to resolve the dispute

During the discussions on the day of the protest, the Government of Jersey committed to setting up a telephone number which the French fishermen could use to speak directly with fluent French-speaking staff in its marine resources team as an addition to the formal diplomatic channels. On 12 May, Girardin called for this to be suspended. Jersey extended the time that boats over had to provide additional evidence of their historic fishing activities in the area until 1 July. However, on 12 May, Girardin wrote to the EU Commissioner Sinkevicius asking for all licences to be renewed until 30 September, without the new requirements that were imposed by Jersey. On 18 May, the ''Alizé 3'' a French fishing boat from Granville was alleged to have fished in an exclusion area where scientific research was due to take place. Jersey's fisheries protection vessel ''Norman Le Brocq'' intercepted the fishing boat whose skipper was adamant that he had permission to fish there. Deputy Guida said that Jersey would be lodging a complaint with the European Commission. As of 19 June, with two weeks before the 1 July deadline, the Jersey authorities had not received any further data from French boats over to evidence the extent that they had historically fished in Jersey's waters. When questioned by the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

' European Affairs Committee, the Ambassador of the European Union to the United Kingdom

João Vale de Almeida João Vale de Almeida (born 29 January 1957 in Lisbon) is a senior European diplomat and Portuguese national, who currently serves as the Ambassador of the European Union to the United Kingdom. Vale de Almeida was Ambassador of the Europea ...

said the way to resolve the dispute was to "use the instruments we created, the bodies we set up within the withdrawal agreement, the joint specialised committees within the Trade and Corporation Agreement, a number of committees and working groups" a governance structure he described as "complex" rather than unilateral measures. On 28 June, Jersey media reported that the EU had recently requested a further extension to the transitional arrangements, and Jersey had agreed to do so until the end of September. The 47 larger boats equipped with tracking systems would continue to be able to fish, along with 177 smaller boats that had applied for licences, and the rules about the number of days that the French boats can fish and the gear that they can use would temporarily not apply. This time would enable "constructive discussions" to continue, and more historical catch data to be submitted and analysed during July. In exchange, Jersey sought assurances that the three of its fishing fleet that had requested permits to continue to fish in French waters would be granted them, and that the French would honour the terms of the trade deal by continuing to allow Jersey boats to unload their catch in France. , the UKSIA listed 177 boats under that had been authorised to fish under the transitional arrangements until 30 September 2021. On 6 September, French prime minister

Jean Castex Jean Castex (; born 25 June 1965) is a French politician who was the country's Prime Minister from 3 July 2020 to 16 May 2022. He was a member of The Republicans (LR) until 2020, when he joined La République En Marche! (LREM). Castex served f ...

wrote to President of the European Commission

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that there was a lack of "political will" to resolve the dispute, and called for a consultative body to be established, similar to those in place under the Granville Bay agreement. On 7 September, Senator Gorst informed the House of Commons

Justice Select Committee The Justice Select Committee of the United Kingdom is a select committee of the House of Commons which scrutinizes the policy, administration, and spending of the Ministry of Justice. In addition, the committee examines the work of the Law Offi ...

that the TCA made clear that it was up to Jersey to issue the licences, that there was no automatic transition from the previous treaty, and that the Island's government wanted to work through the technical details and data to respect the historic fishing rights of the French but "no more and no less". While the communication was more positive, Jersey "still did not have all the data" and was pushing all parties for the data via

. In January 2022, France's Europe Minister

Clément Beaune Clément Beaune (born 14 August 1981) is a French public servant and politician who has been serving as the Secretary of State for European affairs in the governments of Prime Ministers Jean Castex and Élisabeth Borne between 2020 and 2022. B ...

said the French could take legal action, which Jersey's Environment Minister understood to mean they could ask the EU to invoke arbitration mechanisms that are built into the Withdrawal Agreement. As of 9 March 2022, no such complaint had been filed.

President Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econo ...

had told Brittany and Normandy that they could negotiate directly with Jersey, alongside the formal route between Jersey, the UK, the EU, France and the regions, and the first such meeting had taken place. The 'nature and extent' part of the licencing agreement that covers which species of fish each boat can catch, where and in what quantity remains under discussion as of December 2022, together with the rules on replacement vessels. Jersey's new Environment Minister, Deputy Jonathan Renouf was seeking approval for a change in the regulations so that there is more flexibility in how similar a replacement fishing boat needs to be to the old one. This would allow for the replacement to be slightly longer or have a bigger engine, for example.

EU compensation scheme

A €60m EU-funded compensation scheme is intended to provide individual support to fishers that failed to be granted a licence, or to enable them to exit the profession.

References

External links

*
Fishing boat licensing information on the Government of Jersey website

List of EU vessels approved by the Government of Jersey to fish in the relevant Jersey waters

{{France–United Kingdom relations 2021 in international relations 2021 in Jersey 2021 in France May 2021 events in Europe Conflicts in 2021 21st century in Normandy Consequences of Brexit EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement Foreign relations of Jersey Fishing conflicts Fisheries law Fishing in France France–United Kingdom relations United Kingdom and the European Union