France frees UK trawler caught up in Channel fishing dispute

A British-registered scallop boat caught up in a post-Brexit spat between the U.Ok. and France over fishing licenses has been launched by French authorities, its proprietor mentioned Wednesday.
Andrew Brown, head of public affairs for Macduff Shellfish, which owns the scallop dredger, mentioned the Cornelis Gert Jan had departed Le Havre in northern France. French maritime police seized the vessel off the Normandy coast final week and detained its skipper and crew.
The boat, which was detained over a paperwork infraction, has grow to be a logo of an even bigger feud between the U.Ok. and France over fishing rights within the English Channel because the U.Ok. withdrew from the European Union..
“We are pleased to have this matter resolved and delighted that our crew and vessel are now able to return home,” Brown mentioned. “The crew have acted with calmness and professionalism throughout the entire incident. They are in good spirits, looking forward to return to their loved ones and are grateful for all the messages of support received from the British public.”

The French and British governments have traded threats and allegations for weeks over French calls for for licenses to fish in U.Ok. waters. France complained that dozens of its boats had been denied licenses to fish in waters round Britain and the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, that are self-governing British Crown dependencies near the coast of northern France.
Fishing is a tiny business economically for each international locations however with outsized political significance, and the dispute has mushroomed into an necessary check for Britain’s relations with the European Union after Brexit.
France has threatened to shut its ports to some British boats and to impose strict checks on boats and vans carrying U.Ok. items, if extra licenses usually are not granted. Paris additionally at one level steered it’d limit power provides to the Channel Islands, that are closely depending on French electrical energy.
The French authorities initially mentioned it could impose the sanctions if no decision on the license dispute emerged by Tuesday. It pushed again the deadline, after which mentioned Wednesday that the measures had been on maintain at the very least via Friday, whereas talks involving French, British and EU officers proceed.

Britain says a blockade would breach the Brexit withdrawal settlement and that the difficulty behind the dispute is is a technical one associated to some French boats’ lack of paperwork to show they’ve historically fished within the areas the place they wish to maintain working.
But France sees it as a matter of precept, and has accused Britain of breaching its legally binding divorce take care of the European Union, which units the principles for fishing within the post-Brexit period..
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been peppered with questions concerning the diplomatic dustup as they attended a Group of 20 summit in Rome and the COP26 local weather convention in Glasgow over the previous week.
The impounded trawler just isn’t one of many vessels concerned within the licensing dispute, in response to the captain’s lawyer. Mathieu Croix, the lawyer for skipper Jondy Ward, mentioned a French court docket on Wednesday ordered the boat’s launch.
The court docket in Rouen annulled final week’s seizure, Croix advised The Associated Press. French maritime authorities, who seized the boat within the Le Havre port final week, didn’t instantly reply to the ruling.
Croix mentioned the dredger was “caught in a political game”.
“There is a whole story spun around this entire case, whereas in fact, it is a rather mundane affair over fishing in an area that is supposedly out of bounds and about licenses that may or may not have been given and catch amounts that are relatively modest,” Croix mentioned.
“From then on, given the current political climate, the case blew up to levels that in our view are totally disproportionate,” he mentioned.