Due to the dispute over fishing licenses in UK waters, some fishermen have lost “up to 50% of their turnover”, according to Olivier Lepretre, president of the regional committee of maritime fisheries and maritime breeding of Hauts-de-France. Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson spoke Sunday, October 31 one-to-one on this subject. From one side of the Channel to the other, everyone seems to be camping in their positions. France criticizes the United Kingdom for granting too few post-Brexit licenses to its fishermen in British waters. She promised, for lack of improvement, to ban on Tuesday British fishing vessels from unloading their cargo in French ports and to strengthen customs controls on trucks.
franceinfo: How are these tensions between the United Kingdom and France characterized for fishermen?
Olivier Lepretre: There currently on the ground, for the Hauts-de-France region, there were 80 requests for fishing licenses and currently we only have 35. This causes a lack of access in British waters and, therefore, our boats cannot go fishing in good conditions. Obviously, this is reflected in turnover with decreases of up to 50%. Businesses get into trouble very quickly and we need a quick solution.
How does it work for unlicensed boats, in concrete terms?
Already, when the boats graze British waters, there are English area controllers ready for action, so the waters are being watched. The boats remain mainly in the French zone and in this French zone, the boats are found with the Belgians and the Dutch so there is a problem of overexploitation and cohabitation of trades. This is a real problem, especially for the sustainability of the resource.
If there is no precise decision by Tuesday, is it a real blockage?
Yes because for Emmanuel Macron, these retaliatory measures are not easy to put in place. The main interlocutor is the European Commission. Here it is France which has all the weight on its shoulders while other countries are also concerned. What is complicated is that those who will suffer the most are the fishermen, both the French and the British.
How do you see the future?
It’s very complicated because the professional who is at sea doesn’t give a damn about politics. What he wants is to work, to go to sea as if nothing had happened. Here we are at the end because it’s still been more than 10 months that we wait. The boats have no other choice but to stay at the dock or there are some who sell their business, there are some who are waiting for the plans to exit the fleet. The situation is extremely tense and we are crossing our fingers that there is something to be decided on Tuesday to find a good lasting solution for all fishermen. We have confidence in our president who defends the interests of French fishermen well, but Boris Johnson defends the interests of British fishermen. We are in the same situation on both sides.