In 2021, a dispute erupted between French fishermen and the Government of Jersey about the licensing of French fishing boats to fish in Jersey's territorial waters. Jersey is a British Crown Dependency, and despite not being part of the United Kingdom, the licensing of European Union fishing boats to fish in Jersey's territorial waters has changed after the UK exit from the EU. On 6 May 2021, French fishermen held a protest in the waters off Jersey's main harbour. The UK is responsible for the defence of the Channel Islands and sent two patrol boats to Jersey in response to the fishermen's threats to blockade it. French politicians suggested that Jersey's electricity supply fed by undersea cables from France could be cut off in retaliation for Jersey placing limitations on the extent to which French boats can fish in the island's waters.
, 131 boats had received permanent licences. Jersey considered the dispute to remain a live issue and were awaiting any formal complaint that France may lodge with the European Commission. The Jersey government continued to hold off enforcing some of the conditions of the French fishermen's licences, but intended to revisit them.
Background
Jersey is a Crown Dependency. Although the island was never part of the UK nor EU, in 1996 it signed a fisheries management agreement with the UK that enabled the Jersey fleet's catch to be treated 'as if from the UK' and required it to comply with the UK's EU obligations under the EU's Common Fisheries Policy for Jersey's extended territorial sea.
Two-thirds of the shellfish consumed in France comes from the Normandy fishing fleet, supporting 4,000 jobs. The fishing grounds surrounding Jersey are rich and diverse, with species including whelk, brown crab, cuttlefish, lobster, spider crab, scallop, clam, sole, ray and sea bream. French fishermen like to fish in Jersey's waters because they are wider and deeper, which often leads to catching bigger produce. Jersey boats seldom fish in French waters.
Normal relations between Jersey and the neighbouring French coastal towns
Jersey has historically enjoyed a cordial relationship with its Norman and Breton neighbours. Jersey was part of the Duchy of Normandy until 1204. The port of Barneville-Carteret is only from Jersey's capital Saint Helier, and the larger ports of Granville and Saint-Malo are and away respectively. There is a passenger ferry service from the Norman ports to Saint Helier, and a fast ferry carrying foot passengers and vehicles to Saint Malo. The marinas in the four ports are popular destinations for recreational boat owners. Eleven of the twelve parishes of Jersey are twinned with towns in Normandy, and the game of pétanque is played competitively between teams on the island and those of Norman towns. Jersey and Guernsey share the a representative office in Caen, the capital of Normandy, and the departmental council of Manche and the regional council of Normandy shares an equivalent office in Jersey the which is also the office of the French honorary consul.
Since 1985, Jersey has imported low-cost, low-carbon electricity from Normandy through undersea cables that form the Channel Islands Electricity Grid. Jersey retains the ability to generate all its own electricity but the Jersey Electricity Company only does so in the event of a failure of the French link which provides 95% of the island's power.
Speaking in the French Senate on 5 May 2021, Béatrice Gosselin said "I can see Jersey chimneys from home, we all are 'anglo-normands' ... Our lives are linked to each other, it's been the case for centuries. We have to take those very particular conditions into account, the life between Jersey and the Manche coast has always existed and we need to put that at the forefront and work hard to find solutions that are fair for everyone."
Granville Bay agreement Historically, Jersey controlled its territorial waters up to from its coast and around the Minquiers and Écréhous reefs which are part of the Bailiwick of Jersey. The area between Jersey and France's coastal waters was common sea, not belonging to or controlled by anyone.
In 1839 the first treaty on fishing in waters between Jersey and France was made, limited to regulating oyster farming. Slight amendments were made in 1920 and again in 1951 when the words 'oyster fishing' were omitted to widen the scope of the agreement, effectively giving French fishermen the right to fish up to three miles off Jersey's coast without restrictions or controls. By 1981 the growth in fishing and reducing stocks meant it was inadequate for modern fishing practices. From 1992 until 2000, Jersey Senator Pierre Horsfall negotiated a new agreement with his French counterparts. The Agreement Between The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and The French Republic Concerning Fishing In The Bay of Granville was signed on 4 July 2000 by Michael Wilkes, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey on behalf of the Crown and Daniel Bernard, French ambassador on behalf of France, but its implementation would require changes to the legislation in both Jersey and France. It came into force on 1 January 2004, giving Jersey and France shared responsibility for the management of fishing in the area between off Jersey's coast under terms of the agreement. As of February 2020, 392 French boats had active permits to fish under the terms of the agreement, 67 of which actively use Jersey's waters to fish.
Provisions of the agreement included: Vessels require a permit to fish commercially in the area A joint management committee composed of officials from France and Jersey would issue the permits and in doing so control the level of fishing effort in the area such as by increasing or reducing the number and size of boats, the type of fishing gear used and the level of catch allowed A joint advisory committee would represent the fishermen on both sides, giving them a forum to resolve disputes and enabling to engage with the government officials and scientists.
After the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 there was a transition period of one year where EU law continued to apply to the UK. At the end of this period the Bay of Granville Agreement no longer had effect and Jersey's fishing relationship with France changed to be governed by the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Under the new agreement Jersey must allow licensed European vessels that have historically fished in its territorial waters to continue to do so. According to newspaper Ouest-France, French fishermen were wary of the changes and were considering ways to retaliate if their fishing rights were curtailed, including "'blackmail' in landing fish, to energy since submarine cables supply the islands from Normandy or in freight or customs duties".
Trade agreement
The EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was signed by the EU and UK on 30 December 2020 after nearly ten months of trade negotiations. Three days earlier, Jersey formally agreed to be included in the deal, ensuring that it could continue to trade with Europe without tariffs. Its parliament the States of Jersey were given until the end of March to properly scrutinise the detail of the agreement. Once ratified, Jersey took sole responsibility for managing its territorial waters. Any restrictions it places on fishing must apply equally to Jersey and EU boats.
The TCA initially only provisionally applied until it formally came into force on 1 May 2021 after the UK and EU ratified the agreement.
Fishing permits When Jersey's Environment Minister John Young announced that Jersey would be taking full control of its territorial waters in December 2020, he expressed hope that a new system would better ensure the ecological conservation of fishing stocks in the Island's waters. On 14 February 2020, 100 Jersey fishermen and supporters staged a protest in St Helier for action to be taken against overfishing. The president of the Jersey Fishermen's Association stated during the protest that "It's all about the marine environment and taking care of it and looking after it for future generations."
The TCA says that "each Party shall grant vessels of the other Party access to fish in its waters reflecting the actual extent and nature of fishing activity that it can be demonstrated was carried out during the period beginning on 1 February 2017 and ending on 31 January 2020 by qualifying vessels of the other Party in the waters and under any treaty arrangements that existed on 31 January 2020."Article 502.1 of the TCA.
On 25 January 2021 the Government of Jersey and EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius agreed to formalise the amnesty period that Jersey had introduced, allowing French boats over long to continue to fish until the end of April 2021. This was intended to enable EU fishermen to gather and submit the necessary evidence of their historic fishing activities in Jersey waters.
On 23 April 2021 Jersey implemented the provisions of the TCA in its domestic legislation through amendments to the Sea Fisheries (Jersey) Law 1994 and Sea Fisheries (Licensing of Fishing Boats) (Jersey) Regulations 2003, which defined the process for licensing of fishing boats operating in its waters.
The change means that Jersey now controls fishing activities for EU boats in Jersey waters which is of concern especially to French fishermen. According to the Normandy and Brittany fishers' federations it affects 250 of their fishing boats, about 900 families and 2,000 jobs on land.
The new permit system came into force for vessels over long equipped with vessel monitoring systems (VMS) at the end of the amnesty period on 30 April 2021, and the Government of Jersey issued 41 permits, with a further 14 pending as of that date, out of 344 requests. When the fishermen received their licences via email there was surprise that they came with conditions, some of which were specific to their boat, including: how many days a boat may fish in Jersey waters, ranging from 7 to 170 days per year what species they may target what fishing gear can be used, and how dredging can be done temporary exclusion from sea bream spawning grounds to enable scientific research to take place However, Jersey later suspended these extra conditions and also allowed for additional types of positional data to be accepted as evidence of historical fishing in addition to VMS such as AIS, logbooks, chart plotters and other written information, as well as GPS.
Young clarified that the fishing licensing scheme will allow Jersey to monitor and control an environmentally sustainable level of fishing in Jersey's territorial waters. Young further stated that; "Our fishing has been unsustainable because of overfishing in the past and I've been clear about that and there will need to be conservation measures. What we've got is a framework of licensing that creates a fair way of doing it, so both ourselves and the EU nations can have sustainable fishing."
On 29 September 2021, the Jersey government issued a total of 142 fishing permits, but stated they had rejected permits for 75 French vessel citing that they "do not meet the criteria and have either not fished in Jersey waters during the relevant period or have not been able to evidence their activity". In reciprocity, Jersey boats that have traditionally fished in French waters are expected to be given a permit to continue by the French authorities. only three Jersey fishing boats had applied for such a permit. A similar licensing regime exists for Jersey boats that wanted to continue to fish in Guernsey’s territorial waters. When that was introduced, only 18 of the 165 boats in Jersey's fishing fleet were granted licences, having provided sufficient proof of a track record of fishing in the area controlled by Guernsey.