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Guernsey has started to issue interim licences so French fisherman can start working in our waters again.
Issues arose when the UK left the EU which technically meant the French were no longer allowed to fish in waters belonging to the Bailiwick.
This led to some speculating the island had banned those fisherman, but in reality, it was an EU law that barred the French from being able to use CI waters, because it states fishing vessels need authorisation to be in "third country" waters, something Guernsey's became on Brexit day. Since that point, the two governments have been working out a scheme to allow continuity of access during 2020 - the Brexit transition period.
Pictured: This all happened at the last minute because France only made contact with Guernsey right before Brexit Day, despite local legislation being written up some time ago.
Thanks to cooperation between France and Guernsey, application forms were made available yesterday, and have been distributed into Europe already. It is a free of charge process, and 13 licenses have already been given to vessels from Normandy and Brittany.
Pictured: Tensions quickly flared up between French and local fishermen, because the French fishermen thought it was Guernsey who had banned them from their waters. This led to them threatening to blockade French ports where Islanders tried to land their catches.
Deputy Neil Inder, Member of Economic Development, chaired a meeting on Tuesday night to explain the situation to local fishermen, who had been told they wouldn't be allowed to land their catches in France because of rising tensions.
"[At the meeting] we were able to give them a full and open briefing on the current situation and what is being done to overcome the problems many of them are having landing their catches in France. I felt that the meeting was positive and that fishermen left the meeting fully understanding the situation.
"The authorisation process that the Committee has introduced will provide a period of stability in access arrangements for those French vessels that have fished in Bailiwick waters in the past under the rules of the London Fisheries Convention, which ended on 31 January 2020. This new regime is for 2020 only and, since it is temporary and does not any create new rights for French vessels in Guernsey waters, it is without prejudice to our future partnership.”
Pictured: Deputy Neil Inder chaired a meeting to explain the situation to local fishermen.
The meeting was held not only to explain the situation, but also to ensure fisherman that they would be able to get their products back in to the French markets as soon as possible.
Application forms and explanatory information for vessels registered in France who wish to fish in Bailiwick waters are now available on the gov.gg website in both English and French.
Deputy Lyndon Trott, Vice-President of the Policy & Resources Committee said: “In view of continued misleading comments in some media that the Bailiwick of Guernsey has “banned” French fishing vessels from its waters, I would like to make clear that the opposite is the case. There has also been disruptive and intimidating behaviour shown by some French fishermen while this issue is being actively resolved good faith. This does not reflect the good relationship between our jurisdictions.
"The Bailiwick of Guernsey has put in place a temporary individual fishing vessel authorisation regime to ensure continuity of fishing access for French vessels during 2020 in line with the intentions of the UK’s Transition Period arrangements following the its EU exit .
"We have not introduced the authorisation regime for our own reasons, but because it is a requirement under EU law for Member State vessels fishing in third country waters and assisting in this way is an indication of the importance that we attach to a continued cordial and constructive relationship with Normandy and France, as our closest neighbour, following the UK’s exit from the EU.”
Finally, Economic Development said it hoped that the actions of French fishermen blocking landings from Bailiwick vessels will now be quickly called off "allowing trade to settle back to its previous harmonious basis."
Pictured top: Granville, Normandy. Temporary licenses are now available for European vessels to allow them to fish in local waters while a Brexit deal is hashed out.
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