The boats concerned may fish in the area of 6 to 12 nautical miles off the Anglo-Norman Island, as before Brexit.
Le Monde with AFP
The announcement occurs in full arm of iron between Paris and London around the post-Brexit fishing licenses, the French government criticizing the British to give it only too small. Wednesday 1 December, 40 fishing licenses to French boats, which will thus continue to fish in its waters after the 1 ER February 2022, announced The Government of the Anglo-Norman Island.
By adding three other boats that will replace vessels that have left the French fleet, Guernsey will give 43 licenses for 58 requests. They will be able to fish in the area of 6-12 nautical miles off the Anglo-Norman Island, as was the case before Brexit. For the fifteen remaining boats, “Any additional data will be examined,” the Government of Guernsey said in a statement. The Foreign Minister of the Island, Jonathan The Tocq, greeted an “important step” of his roadmap on the licenses and said his hope that she brings “certainty and stability”.
Post-Brexit Litigation
The question of fishing licenses is less problematic with Guernsey, that Paris considers as a “reliable partner” in the negotiation, that it is with London and Jersey. European fishermen can continue to work in British waters as long as they can prove that they were forever there. But French and British compete with the nature and extent of the proof to be provided.
Since January 1, France has thus obtained about a thousand fishing licenses in the British waters and the Anglo-Norman Islands, but Paris still claims about a hundred. The European Commission recently requested London to settle the post-Brexit litigation on fishing licenses with France for December 10.
In the area of 6 to 12 nautical miles from the British coasts, the debates are stretched for 40 boats, long of more than 12 meters, which have recently been put in water replacing old vessels. London refuses for the moment to give them a license, believing that it is new requests because they concern more modern and often more powerful vessels. France wants to see urgently the situation of about thirty ships, considered as “very priority” since they carry out a large part of their catches in these British waters to which they no longer have access.