After Brexit, the dispute over fishing rights between Britain and France continued to escalate.
According to French media France 24, on October 28, local time, the British government summoned the French ambassador to the UK to protest the actions taken by France in the fishing dispute after Brexit.
The French Ministry of Ocean Affairs issued a statement on October 28 saying that late on the night of October 27, France detained a British scallop trawler at the port of Le Havre.
This is not the first time that Britain and France have quarreled over fishing rights. The last time was in April of this year, when Britain and France faced off warships over fishing rights in Jersey.
Tian Dewen, deputy director of the European Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out in an interview with the Beijing News reporter that whether it is the previous dispute over jersey fishing rights or the recent detention of British fishing vessels by France due to fishing rights, they are related to the Brexit agreement. Fishing rights were once the focus of the UK's Brexit negotiations, and although the UK and the EU have reached an agreement, the issue has not been fully resolved until now. Now that the two sides can communicate at the diplomatic level, it is still positive for the UK-EU relationship. The EU tends to be good, but it remains to be seen how much it can play.
On October 28, 2021 local time, the fishing boat Cornelis Gert Jan in Le Havre, France, and the British cornelis Gert Jan was seized by the French authorities and anchored in the local port. Figure/IC photo
The Dispute over Fishing Rights between Britain and France has resumed
The French Ministry of Maritime Affairs issued a statement on October 28 saying that late at night on October 27, France found that one of them did not have a fishing license during an inspection of two British fishing vessels, and the fishing vessel and its personnel were temporarily detained in the French port of Le Havre.
In response to the ukling vessel's seizure, the BBC reported that the BBC insisted that the EU did issue a licence to the trawler and said it was "unclear" why the vessel was detained.
French Maritime Affairs Minister Anike Girardin said on social media that the trawler was fishing unlicensed in the Gulf of Seine when it was found. Inspections of UK vessels are only standard procedures for scallop fishing season and are "carried out in discussions with the UK and the European Commission on licensing issues and tightening control of the strait".
The BBC reported that scottish McDuff Shellfish, which operates the British fishing vessel, said the vessel's fishing activities in French waters were legal. Its staff member, Andrew Brown, said the fishing boat appeared to be "embroiled" in a post-Brexit fishing dispute.
In fact, the Anglo-French fishing rights dispute has been going on for months.
Earlier, Politico reported that in April, the British island of Jersey had set stricter requirements for issuing fishing licenses, which French fishermen complained about. According to the BBC, on May 6, local time, dozens of French fishing boats held a protest, and the United Kingdom and France each sent two warships to patrol the waters near Jersey. What began as a dispute over fishing rights quickly escalated into a standoff between British and French naval vessels.
Behind the fishing rights dispute
The dispute over fishing rights between Britain and France mainly stems from the issue of fishing rights in relevant waters after Brexit.
"Fishing rights were once the focus of the UK's 'Brexit' negotiations, and until now that the UK has left the EU, this issue has not been completely resolved." Tian Dewen said. "In the recent incident in which Australia broke off its conventional submarine cooperation with France and switched to cooperation with the United States and Britain in building nuclear submarines, France also has opinions on Britain, so there has been a certain dispute."
Before Brexit, under the EU Common Fisheries Policy, most of the fishing quotas in UK waters were allocated to EU countries. However, after Brexit, under the Withdrawal Agreement, from 1 January 2021, EU fishing vessels will continue to fish in UK waters for the next few years, and THE AMOUNT (or quota) of FISH (or quota) owned by UK vessels will account for a greater share.
After the Brexit deal came into effect, according to the BBC, the question of who has the right to fish in UK waters has become more complicated as a large portion of the UK quota has been sold to foreign vessels flying the British flag.
In addition, the Withdrawal Agreement also stipulates that fishermen from EU countries are required to enter British waters to fish and can obtain fishing permits if they can prove that they have previously fished in this area. However, the British side has not issued licenses to some French fishing vessels due to audits and other reasons, which has caused dissatisfaction in France.
Before the British fishing boat was seized on the evening of October 27, the British and French countries were already at odds over fishing rights. France argues that the UK has been delaying the issuance of licences to eligible French fishing vessels since Brexit, while the UK has denied it, claiming to have issued licences to French fishing vessels that had been in UK waters prior to Brexit.
Political reported that the UK said it had issued nearly 1,700 licences to EU vessels, including France, which accounts for 98 percent of EU countries applying for fishing licenses. The UK will continue to follow developments and believes that the processing of the application is "fully in line with" the Brexit deal.
But France disputed the figure, saying EU vessels had filed a total of 2,127 applications for fishing licences, while britain had only approved 1,913, with a pass rate of around 90.3 percent. "With the exception of one or two Belgian fishing boats, all the others that were not licensed were French fishing boats. That is, 10% of the rejected are French. ”
It is worth noting that the share of fishing in the UK economy is not large. According to BBC statistics, fishing contributed £437 million to the UK economy in 2019. By comparison, the financial services sector is worth £126 billion.
Why did britain argue with France over fishing rights? Tian Dewen said that just looking at fishing, the impact on the British economy is not very large, but it is beneficial to France, because the French fishery is very important, and french fishermen have a certain influence on French politics and diplomacy, so britain is actually increasing diplomatic pressure on the French government.
On the other hand, Tian Dewen believes that the United Kingdom is mainly from the perspective of sovereignty, because in the process of Brexit, when the United Kingdom negotiates with the EU, it uses the resources of the United Kingdom to negotiate with the resources of twenty-seven countries, and the British negotiation resources are less than the EU's negotiation resources. The reason for not making concessions on the issue of fishing rights is now aimed at expanding its resources.
Fishing rights disputes will have a negative impact on Anglo-French relations
The UK and the EU had intended to reach an agreement on fishing rights by Nov. 2, but negotiations have not yet made significant progress. French government spokesman Gabriel Attar said on Oct. 27: "Our patience has a limit. ”
French government officials have previously announced that if negotiations fail to make progress, France will begin retaliatory measures on November 2: stepping up inspections of British goods imported into Europe through France, prohibiting British ships from unloading seafood at French ports, and possibly cutting off electricity supply to the Channel Islands, a British royal possession.
According to Deutsche Welle, britain condemned France's plan to ban British ships from unloading in French ports from November 2.
In addition, according to CNN, the British government said it would convey its concerns to the European Commission and the French government before announcing the latest measures.
"Fishing rights disputes will have a negative impact on Britain and France, but in the long run, the UK will also have to deal with its relationship with EU member states, and Britain and France, as close neighbors, will need cooperation in the future." Tian Dewen said.
A European Commission spokesman said in a statement on Thursday that the EU would continue discussions with Britain and France to resolve the issue. The EU stressed that "all French vessels that meet the requirements for obtaining a licence should be licensed".
Tian Dewen said that the ability of Britain and France to communicate at the diplomatic level is positive for resolving the dispute over fishing rights between the two countries. The EU will play a role because the Brexit deal is with the EU, not with France. Now to implement the agreement reached at that time, the EU tends to be good, but it remains to be seen how much it can play.
Beijing News reporter Zhu Yuehong
Edited by Fan Yijing Proofreader Lucy