Rejection of EU fishing licenses spark fresh UK-France tensions

The UK has granted 12 licences to 47 EU smaller vessels in the latest round of applications that bid to fish in British territorial waters.

Almost 1,700 EU vessels licences have now been licensed to fish in UK waters. Of these, 117 licences have been issued for EU vessels to fish in the 6-12 nautical mile zone where supporting evidence of a track record was available.

There are thirty five smaller vessels which did not have supporting evidence where licences have not been issued but where the UK government remains open to further discussion and evidence.

French sea minister Annick Girardin told French newspaper Le Monde: “It is a new refusal of the British to apply the conditions of the Brexit accord despite all the work undertaken together.

“I have only one watchword; to obtain definitive licences for our fishermen as the accord foresees.”

An announcement on post-Brexit permits around Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands and a self-governing dependency of the United Kingdom, is expected later today.