“It’s unhealthy, we have to work in harmony and not look at each other like that, like faience dogs”, regretted Thursday, October 28 on franceinfo, Dimitri Rogoff. The president of the Normandy regional fisheries committee called on London to “put a little water in your wine” and to issue other fishing licenses in its waters. According to former Minister of Fisheries Stéphane Travert, “2,127 licenses must be granted” and “there are only 1,913”, at this stage.
In the Franco-British conflict over post-Brexit fishing, Gregory Guida, the deputy and minister of Jersey blamed the French fishermen, assuring that if they did not obtain from Jersey and the United Kingdom the necessary licenses to to fish in British waters, it is because they “did not send the evidence” that these vessels were already fishing in UK waters before Brexit.
franceinfo: What do you say to the Minister of Jersey?
Dimitri Rogoff: He plays a bit on words. The Jersey authorities know French boats very well. They know very well that a number of boats have fished in their waters in the past, and their licenses have not been recognized. This concerns small fishing boats, which do not have GPS or satellite tracking. So we have to bring in a body of evidence, and that’s where all the ambiguity is. Jersey dissects the files with a method we do not know. On the scale of Normandy, about fifteen boats are awaiting their license. We know full well that they have always fished in Jersey waters. They find it difficult to provide all the evidence requested, or they do not accept the evidence that is offered. This is where we have a blockage.
So is it not true when Gregory Guida says that many boats applying for a license have never set foot in Jersey?
There may be boats whose presence has not been continuous in recent years. The fishermen are nomads, they follow the fish. If they’re not on the Jersey side for a year, they don’t go. And vice versa. And then, there is no materialized border at sea. Sometimes, they are on the French side. Sometimes they are on the British side. Sometimes, they indicate it incorrectly on the monthly fishing sheets. There, we have people who play a little on words, who titillate us. It’s unhealthy, they are the Channel Islands, our closest neighbors. We must work in harmony, and not look at each other like that like faience dogs.
Do you think France is right to brandish the threat of retaliatory measures? If nothing changes, from Tuesday, it will prohibit British fishermen from disembarking in French ports, and customs controls will be tightened.
Absolutely. If retaliatory measures are announced, it is because there is a real problem with the United Kingdom, which even goes beyond the scope of licenses. The UK is negotiating the terms of the Brexit deal, line by line, to be penalized as little as possible. It is not a way of working. The deal is what it is. It must be applied as is. It has been ten months since the United Kingdom officially left the European Union, and we are still talking about words, lines. It’s pretty unhealthy. We need to find peaceful bilateral relations. There, license applications go through Paris, then Brussels, then London, then it comes back to Jersey. This is not a way of working, although we have always acted bilaterally. We must find simpler discussions between us.
London says it will have a calibrated and appropriate response to Paris sanctions. Is there for you a risk of spiraling, of escalation?
There is a risk of a spiral, in particular everything related to control at sea. London is going to take revenge, it is not the right solution. Knowing that in addition, at the maritime level, they are still stronger than us. They can become more of a nuisance. And since many French fishermen go to the waters of the British exclusive economic zone (EEZ), we risk harassment of our fishermen. It’s going to be a form of escalation that will be badly experienced, on both sides. It will become deleterious, unhealthy, and we must avoid that. Everyone must take a good step forward, put a little water in their wine, issue licenses, and we must be able to work in a peaceful manner. There is a way. There are technical discussions going on right now. But London needs to volunteer a little more than it is now.