Jersey news – live: French fishing vessels gather as Royal Navy ships patrol
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France’s fishing fleet has descended on Jersey, after threatening to blockade the port of St Helier amid a post-Brexit fishing dispute with the Channel Island.
At just before 7am on Thursday, a flotilla of around 70 vessels was heading to the mouth of the port, according to the BBC.
Despite calling for an urgent need for de-escalation on Wednesday, the British government sent two Royal Navy vessels to Jersey, with HMS Severn and HMS Tamar now on hand to “monitor the situation”.
This comes after French maritime minister Annick Girardin warned on Tuesday that Paris could take “retaliatory measures” over the fishing dispute, including potentially cutting off the island’s electricity.
Jersey’s external affairs minister Ian Gorst has described the threats as “disproportionate”.
France fishermen are worried about their livelihoods after their pre-existing arrangements with Jersey - set out under the 2000 Granville Bay Agreement - were scrapped because of Brexit.
A spokesperson for the fishermen told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that if the current situation was not rectified, it would “kill 70 per cent of the French fleet”.
Jersey fisherman ‘pleased’ about presence of Navy ships
Fisherman Josh Dearing said he was “absolutely” pleased about the deployment of Royal Navy ships to the waters off Jersey.
He told PA that normally the crown dependency was “completely unprotected”, except for a few police officers.
“The French can be hostile. All of our livelihoods are in that harbour and if they wanted to they could cause damage,” he added.
Ministers must hold talks with France, Labour says
The government’s decision to send gunboats to Jersey should be followed by negotiations with France, Labour has suggested.
John Healey MP, the shadow defence secretary, described French threats against the Channel Island as “completely unreasonable”, adding that the presence of the navy vessels will “help reassure residents and protect Britain’s broader national interests”.
“The British government must now get round the table with French colleagues and authorities in Jersey and sort this issue out,” he said.
Jersey fishermen say French demands are ‘grossly unfair’
Jersey’s fishermen have said they will ditch their fishing licences if the French fleets gets its demands.
Don Thompson, president of the Jersey Fishermen’s Association, told Good Morning Britain: “We’ve already told our minister - our licences, some of our fishermen have paid a quarter of a million pounds for our licences - we’re going to get rid of our licences and fish without licences.
“We just will not put up with those (French) boats being left to fish uncontrolled, unsustainably in our waters, whilst we’re subject to all sorts of constraints.”
He added that it would be “grossly unfair” if the French fleet got its way.
Picture: French boats arrive off Jersey coast
French fishing boats arrive to stage a protest outside the harbour of St Helier, Jersey, on Thursday morning.
French fishing vessels descend on Jersey
Dozens of French fishing vessels made their way to Jersey on Thursday morning to stage a protest against new post-Brexit fishing licences.
This is an interactive map showing their arrival:
UK sends navy ships to Jersey
The fishing dispute between France and Jersey worsened earlier this week when a French minister threatened to cut off the island’s electricity supply.
The UK blasted the threat as “unacceptable”, before later sending two navy vessels to assist Jersey.
Here’s Jon Stone with the details:
UK blasts ‘unacceptable’ threats by France to cut Jersey’s electricity supply in fishing dispute
Jersey says French fisherman do not understand new Brexit fishing rules
Morning, and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the fishing dispute between Jersey and France.
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