British navy and French police vessels were sent to patrol waters around Jersey amid fears of a possible blockade as 60 French fishing boats gathered off the island "like an invasion".
A Jersey resident claimed his boat was deliberately rammed by a French trawler in the harbour at St Helier as the row over post-Brexit fishing rights between the UK and France dramatically escalated on Thursday.
A freight ship was initially "trapped" and unable to leave Channel island's main port, but was later allowed to pass as a flotilla of French boats - backed by Brussels - crowded the harbour from about 5am.
Angry French fishermen lot flares and waved banners calling for fishing access to the waters, with two local boats reportedly joining the demonstration as police and islanders watched the stand-off until the flotilla left at about 1pm following talks with Jersey ministers.
The Royal Navy's HMS Severn and HMS Tamar, armed with machine guns and cannon, were positioned some distance away after being sent to the island's main port to “monitor the situation” following mounting threats from Normandy trawlermen.
France sent two police vessels to the area, including a former navy boat armed with cannon, as the situation in the British Crown dependency unfolded and a French fishing industry official warned "we're ready for war".
Prime Minister Boris Johnson reiterated his “unequivocal support” for Jersey during a phone call with island officials amid heightened tensions.
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But just before 6.30pm, Downing Street said the two Navy vessels had been ordered to stand down after the French boats returned to port.
A Government spokeswoman said: “We are pleased that French fishing boats have now left the vicinity of Jersey.
“Given the situation is resolved for now, the Royal Navy offshore patrol vessels will prepare to return to port in the UK.
“We remain on standby to provide any further assistance Jersey requests.”
One of the navy ships was steaming back to Britain on Thursday and the other was due to return home on Friday morning.
Mr Johnson said: "I'm pleased that the situation in Jersey has been resolved. Thank you to the Royal Navy for their swift response.
"The UK will always stand resolutely by the people of Jersey."
The row began after the island implemented new requirements under the terms of the UK-EU trade deal for boats to submit evidence of their past fishing activities in order to receive a licence to carry on operating in Jersey waters. French fisherman claim their rights are unfairly restricted.
Earlier this week, David Sellam, head of the joint Normandy-Brittany sea authority, was quoted by French media as saying that Jersey had been taken over by an "extremist fringe", who wanted to profit from Brexit.
He added: "We're ready for war. We can bring Jersey to its knees if necessary."
Another skipper, Claude La Vaullée, said he and others had equipped their vessels to “re-stage the Battle of Trafalgar”.
'Patriotic duty'
Jersey property developer Jonathan Ruff claims a French trawler deliberately rammed his boat as he went out to face the flotilla to "stick up" for the island and do his "patriotic duty".
Footage online showed two boats colliding in the harbour and witnesses shout "oh" following the sound of the impact.
Mr Ruff told the Sun: "I couldn't believe what he was doing. He deliberately sped up and went straight for me clipping my bow.
''If he had hit my engine I would have been in big, big trouble, I could have lost the boat and anything could have happened.
''They were out of order and if it wasn't for some quick evasive action my boat could have been at the bottom of the Channel."
In a defiant protest, a member of the Jersey Militia re-enactment group, wearing a replica of the three-cornered hat worn once by soldiers, fired a musket towards the sea as the stand-off dragged on.
Mr Gorst, Jersey’s External Affairs Minister, was among the local officials who took part in talks with the French fishermen amid the protest. He said the discussions were “positive”.
He told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme: “It really is important that what has escalated over the course of the last three days, that we move away from that escalation and disproportionate threats, and start to deal with those detailed technical issues."
Earlier, Dimitri Rogoff, head of fisheries for the Normandy region, had told AFP the French boats would not try to block St Helier and would return to France in the afternoon.
The Commodore Goodwill freight ferry was initially unable to leave the harbour due to the flotilla crowding the harbour.
Condor CEO Paul Luxon tweeted: "Sadly she is trapped, we tried to bring her in earlier so in - discharge, load - out, and on her way, but in dialogue with Jersey Authorities ‘safety first’ of course.'"
One of the trawlers positioned itself directly in front of the Commodore Goodwill, according to social media posts by Marie Carof-Gadel, a French journalist on board the trawler.
The trawler later moved away and the delayed ferry left the port.
The protest leader had instructed the vessels to let the ship leave, the Jersey Evening Post reported.
Two local boats from Jersey joined the protest, the report added.
French fishermen were chatting via radio whether to push the protest further, but the consensus was "no" and they agreed to turn around and give the ferry room to leave the port, tweeted Paris-based Al Jazeera producer Tristan Redman, who was covering the scene in Jersey.
The island sits 14 miles off the northern French coast and 85 miles south of Britain's shores.
'Like an invasion'
Jersey fisherman Josh Dearing described the scene at the port of St Helier on Thursday morning as “like an invasion”, with the French fleet mostly made up of “big French dredgers and trawlers” of 12 metres or more.
Mr Dearing, 28, said: “There were probably about 60 boats. There were a few hand-held flares and smoke flares going off and apparently a few maybe bangers and stuff going off from the French.
“It was quite a sight. It was impressive, I looked from the shore this morning and it was just like a sea of red lights and flares already going off at sea. It was like an invasion.”
Originally from Kent, the owner of The Jersey Catch fishing company said the fleet was mostly made up of “big French dredgers and trawlers” of about 12 metres or more.
There had been rumblings about a planned protest a few days ago, Mr Dearing said, but added that he had not been sure if it was “serious or empty threats”.
He said: “The French being the French, they don’t mess around. They can blockade their own harbours – they wouldn’t think twice about coming and doing it to us.”
He was “absolutely” pleased to hear on Wednesday night that Royal Navy vessels were being deployed to patrol the waters around Jersey.
He said: “We’re completely unprotected in Jersey. We’ve got nothing except for a few police officers. We don’t have a police boat, we don’t have a navy boat, we don’t have anything to protect us.
“The French can be hostile. All of our livelihoods are in that harbour and if they wanted to they could cause damage.”
Mr Dearing, who said his fishing licence costs about £40,000, said French fishermen who have not been granted a licence to fish had “thrown their toys out of the pram”.
He said: “Jersey fisheries has done nothing wrong. They’ve issued the permits to the French fisherman that were entitled to them and the ones that aren’t entitled don’t get the permits and that’s just life, that’s how it is.
“The guys that have historical rights [to fish] have been granted them, as they should’ve done, and the ones that haven’t have just thrown their toys out of the pram.”
Hugo Lehuby, a representative for the Normandy regional fishing committee which helped organise Thursday's protest, said the French flotilla would not seek to impede access to Jersey ports, or stop local fishing vessels from operating.
Speaking to Reuters by phone, he said the boats would return to France in the afternoon, adding: "The objective is to express our unhappiness about the restrictive measures that were imposed.
"This is not a blockade," he said. "It's not our objective to smash stuff up."
Paris threatens to cut power
Paris has warned it could cut off power to the island, which receives 95 per cent of its electricity from France through three undersea cables, in retaliation for the fallout.
France's threats to cut off Jersey's electricity were "clearly unacceptable and disproportionate", the UK Government said.
French fishermen launched their protest a day after Mr Johnson told Mr Le Fondre and Mr Gorst they have his "unwavering support".
French maritime minister Annick Girardin warned on Tuesday that the country was ready to take "retaliatory measures", accusing Jersey of dragging its feet over issuing new licences to French boats.
The European Commission has said that the terms of the EU/UK trade deal are not being met in waters off the coast of Jersey, due to the conditions imposed on licences for French fishing boats there.
Speaking before Jersey officials held talks with the French fishermen, Mr Gorst told BBC News: “He and I will, as I say, later this morning be going out to listen to the French fishermen.
“It’s really important that we are able to work with those fishermen to help them provide the necessary evidence so that, if required, their licences can be amended.
“As I’ve said, it’s important that we respond to threats, but the answer to this solution is to continue to talk and diplomacy.”
Mr Gorst said the demonstration had been peaceful, “which is what we would have expected”.
UK 'must respond firmly' to threats
He said it is “important” that the Government responds “firmly” to “threats”.
On Wednesday Mr Gorst held talks with Marc Lefevre, the president of the La Manche region of northern France, on the "difficult set of issues relating to fishing licences".
As the protest continued on Thursday, he said: “We’ve heard disproportionate threats from Paris and now with a potential blockade, but the answer to the issues that are being faced are without doubt talking and diplomacy.”
Asked if it was disproportionate to send Royal Navy vessels to patrol the waters around Jersey, he said: “A minister in Paris threatened over technical issues on fishing licences to cut off Jersey’s electricity.
“We have to take such threats seriously and respond appropriately.
“And fishing vessels threatened to blockade the main harbour into the island.
“Again, we have to take that seriously and we’re extremely grateful to the Prime Minister for his full support and, as he said last night, those assets in Jersey waters are as a precautionary measure to monitor what’s happening in our waters and, as I’ve said, so far the protest has been peaceful, as we would expect.”
Mr Gorst said the French have made clear their “frustration” over the new Brexit trade deal.
He added: “But we are in a new era of relationship with the European Union. That is governed by the Brexit trade deal and we believe that it can serve our interest as well as the interests of French fishermen into the future.
“We cannot look back to the previous arrangements. They have gone. We must make the new trade deal work in all of our interests.”
Stephanie Yon-Courtin, a French MEP and member of the EU Fisheries Committee, called on Jersey residents and the UK Government to “understand that our fishermen need to carry on working”.
“This situation is all the more sad because historically Jersey and the French fisherman have always had very cordial and pretty good relations for the past decade,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Some of Jersey’s people need to understand, and Jersey’s government and UK Government, have to understand that our fishermen need to carry on working.
Asked if she supported the threat that power could be cut off to Jersey in the future, she added: “I’m just saying that at the last resort, if we don’t have any other means to be understood, then we will have to consider that.
“We don’t want to do that, I don’t think it’s good, I don’t think it’s good for anybody.”
The European Commission said terms of the EU/UK trade deal were not being met in waters off the coast of Jersey.
European Commission spokeswoman Vivian Loonela told a Brussels briefing: “On April 30, the commission was notified by the UK authorities of granting 41 licences to the EU vessels who are fishing in Jersey territorial waters from May 1.
“But there were additional conditions set to these licences.
“We have, following the receiving of this, indicated to the UK that we see that the provisions of the EU/UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement, that we recently agreed, have not been met there, have not being respected.”
France sends police boats as tensions rise
Royal Navy crew on board HMS Severn, previously used to shadow Russian navy warships off the English coast, and HMS Tamar watched Thursday's demonstration from a considerable distance.
The ships are used for fisheries protection and sailors are allowed to board other vessels for spot checks.
Former British ambassador Craig Murray said he could “not believe how stupid, on every level, it is to send gunboats”.
The former head of the marine section at the Foreign Office tweeted: "I personally negotiated the UK fisheries agreement between France and the Channel Islands in (from memory) 1991, while Head of Maritime Section at the FCO. It was heated, esp in Cherbourg."
A UK Ministry of Defence spokesman said earlier: "HMS Severn and HMS Tamar are deploying to Jersey to conduct maritime security patrols.
"This is a strictly precautionary measure and has been agreed with the Jersey Government."
A Downing Street spokesman added: "The Prime Minister and Chief Minister stressed the urgent need for a de-escalation in tensions and for dialogue between Jersey and France on fishing access.
"The Prime Minister underlined his unwavering support for Jersey.
"He said that any blockade would be completely unjustified.
"As a precautionary measure the UK will be sending two offshore patrol vessels to monitor the situation.
"They agreed the UK and Jersey Governments would continue to work closely on this issue."
Athos, a French police vessel named after one of the Three Musketeers, was sent on a "patrol mission" just outside Jersey's exclusive economic zone on Thursday morning.
Athos was transferred to the National Gendarmerie in 2016 after some two decades of service with the French Navy proper.
A second French police patrol boat, called Themis, was also sent to the area.
A French maritime gendarmerie spokesman said: ‘The Athos is carrying out a patrol mission in the area."
John Healey MP, Labour’s shadow defence secretary, said the threats on Jersey are "completely unreasonable", as he urged the Government to meet with their French counterparts and the island's authorities.
He added: "The Navy’s experience in sensitive situations will help reassure residents and protect Britain’s broader national interests.
“The British Government must now get round the table with French colleagues and authorities in Jersey and sort this issue out.”
Jersey fishermen 'not very happy'
Don Thompson, president of Jersey Fishermen’s Association, said the “big question on everybody’s lips right now" is whether the UK Government would give in to the tactics of the French.
He told Good Morning Britain: “The French fishermen out there want conditions removed from their licences so that they can fish with no constraints in our waters, whilst our boats are subject to all sorts of conditions about how much they can catch, where they can go.”
He said it would be “grossly unfair” if the Government does “capitulate to that” and said such tactics might be used “again and again in the future”.
He added: “They’re not very happy fishermen down here this morning, suspecting that we probably will see our Government give in to that.”
Mr Thompson said Jersey’s fishermen had told the Government they are prepared to ditch their fishing licences if the French win their demands.
He added: “We’ve already told our minister – our licences, some of our fishermen have paid a quarter of a million pounds for our licences – we’re going to get rid of our licences and fish without licences.
“We just will not put up with those (French) boats being left to fish uncontrolled, unsustainably in our waters, whilst we’re subject to all sorts of constraints.”
He said: “It would be grossly unfair and highly discriminatory on our fleet to have to fish against that huge (French) fleet out there in our waters and see those boats have no constraints whatsoever and for our boats to be subject to all sorts of conditions.
“That would just be absolutely unacceptable.”
The dispute “may be illustrative of underlying tensions, border tensions at the moment” between the UK and the EU, according to Duncan Fairgrieve, professor of comparative law at Universite de Paris Dauphine in France.
He said: “This issue may seem like a storm in a teacup but fishing rights have always been a problem issue.
“And as I said, it may be illustrative of some of the post-Brexit difficulties that are going on in the background.”
