Dog Mood, on the port of Saint Helier, the capital of Jersey. While the Fisheries Conference opens Thursday, November 18 in Brittany, the Anglo-Norman island is still at the heart of discussions between France and the United Kingdom on the number of fishing licenses granted since Brexit. For two days, debates will take place in Roscoff and Saint-Pol-de-Léon (Finistère), while exchanges continue between Paris and London, without results.
If the island is at the center of the debate, it is because it is located just a few kilometers from the Normandy coast. For several weeks, dozens of French fishermen have been deprived of these waters full of fish.
A few meters from a growling doggie, his owner barks on the deck of his boat, in the process of being repaired. “Go ahead, turn off the electricity!”, he gets angry in the distance, refusing to answer questions. “My grandfather was in the resistance and he didn’t have one. That’s okay!”, he says, thus referring to the French threat to reduce the island’s electricity supply. Here, the inhabitants took it badly.
“Fishing is used as a pawn in a political game”, plague Gilbert, fisherman from Jersey. Dragging a plastic crate full of crabs and lobsters he just caught, Gilbert admits the whole thing is undermining him. “As fishermen, this puts enormous pressure on us. There is a battle between the French government and that of Jersey. Who knows what will happen?”
The island’s authorities have granted 116 definitive fishing licenses to the French and 46 others valid only until January 31, 2022. When France says that dozens more are needed, the Jersey Minister-Assistant in charge of ‘Environment, Grégory Guida, strangles and ensures that the rule is applied: a vessel must prove that it has been fishing in the sector for one of the last three years. There is, according to him, nothing to negotiate, only the evidence counts. A sign of Jersey’s goodwill: the Anglo-Norman island itself has sometimes even found some for French fishermen.
He also mentions the applicants who have never been here to fish but want the license to add value to the vessel. In the event of resale, the new owner benefits from the authorization, which increases the price by several tens of thousands of euros.
As for the tone used by the French government, Grégory Guida prefers to be ironic. “France has eight frigates of the first rank. We have 60 soldiers and a Zodiac. If France wants to invade Jersey, she is welcome. She can bring us a prefect and, tomorrow morning, we have lunch in a new colony”, he slips to the address of Paris. “It’s not really the principle. We are in the 21st century, we are discussing between adults to put in place a contract that exists. It can be done with specialists, experts and even lawyers if you really have a problem. “