Two Royal Navy Offshore Patrol Vessels are being sent as a ‘precautionary measure’ in the face of blockade threats from French fishermen.

It is being reported that French authorities have threatened to cut electricity supply to the island and that around 60 French fishing vessels plan to blockade the main port of St Helier due to issues relating to fishing.

A Government spokesperson was quoted as saying:

“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.”

Sky News also report here that France have accused the UK of using red tape to limit fishing around Jersey in breach of the Brexit agreement, threatening retaliation.

“With regards to Jersey, I would remind you, for example, of electricity transmission by underwater cable. So, we have the means,” French maritime minister Annick Girardin reportedly said.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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125 COMMENTS

    • Jersey is British through and through. Sour grapes seems to sadly be the order of the day in many parts of Europe at the moment.

      • Certainly sour grapes and quite an idiotic move from the French really.

        Jersey however is not British through and through, it has a huge French influence on the island throughout history.

        • It is a UK protectorate. It is self governing but relies on the UK for defence and foreign policy.

        • It’s not really about Jersey herself but about what the UK do in Jersey about the fishing rights.

          From the french papers view, the french politician involved is trying to avoid a threat against the EU because the UK seem to have add some new line in the fishing right and is pretty slow to deliver the rights to french fisherman, all of this just to use it as a blackmail in a new deal with the EU.

          So here, the french action of cut electricity is seen as a reprisal because of an UK action.

          NB: I’m not trying to debate on who is in its right, I dont know well the subject, I just add the pov of french papers because I dont read anything about that in this article.
          Since french and UK have bigger “fish” in the world who threaten our liberties, I dont think fight each other for fishs is the best idea…

          But it’s interesting to read some people willing to go at war with France. Do you know our both empire are over and we are not in war since Waterloo (Vichy forces are not french imo)?

          • Hermes,
            The U.K. has no say on the matter as Jersey is not part of theUk, it has its own Parliament and issues it’s own laws. And just for the matter , the fishing laws it has implemented apply to fishing boats from the U.K. as well.

          • Do you mean that the French wouldn’t use some perverse interpretation of EU law to stop import of anything or stop something happening if it was not “in the national interest”!!!??

            Part of the reason the UK got (and I was pro EU) done over all the time is that it played things pretty straight. Whereas France and Italy were constantly plating games.

        • It most certainly does but the Union Jack flies alongside the Jersey Saltire with no sign of the Tricolor

      • With every move they make, the EU ruling elite show more clearly their true nature, and why Brexit was the correct decision.

      • If France us not careful less and less sour grapes will end up in bottles on British dinner tables. I dont drink much these days, but I prefer Chillian.

    • Jersey is not part of the UK at the governmental level however as a Crown Dependency the UK is responsible for defence and foreign policy. The sovereign authority for Jersey & Guernesey & the Isle of Man is the UK under the Crown .

      • I think it was just the bit about the Sovereign authority. I think your Wiki reference might actually say that somewhere ? If not it should .

        • If you put to one side the historical particularities of Crown Dependencies ( Duchy of Normandy etc ) for the CI’s then the relationship is like the Overseas Territories . All self – governing , not part of the UK but with the UK having defence & foreign policy responsibility & being the sovereign state . I tried to explain it to the french but self governing to them is unheard of . Their territories and dependencies are mostly part of France and they cant see beyond that.

    • Jersey isn’t french and never has been. Jersey has been loyal to the crown since Charles 2nd.

  2. Hey, the CSG is just about worked up… Send that!

    Even French fisherman might think twice with 70k tons of metal steaming towards them and a few F35s hovering above.

    Obviously its a bit ironic we’ve invested in a globe trotting capability as war breaks out in the Channel but there you go 🙂

    • It’s probably half way to Scotland by now . The two Rivers should be more than enough . A T45 due to join the CSG was still in the Channel region today though. Practicing gunnery I heard .!

      • Nah – send the lot! Get the LPDs out there too!

        We haven’t had a war with France for ages and after Iraq and Afghan we need a morale raiser 🙂

  3. I always differentiate between the French Government and the French military. The military are great friends and allies, professionals and up for a ruck, and know we are there for them, as they are for us, while the French Government is full of second rate hangers on who would do and say anything to suck up to their well subsidised supporters. Macron has got to be the worst of a bad bunch for a very long time. Anyway, back to the story…..French gits….🤣

    • Up to 10,000 of the military high ups have signed a letter or petition to Macron, angry about French values being diluted… by immigrants.

  4. Personally , I want to see France cut off all the electricity to Jersey and then see the 100+ French fishing boats blocking Jersey. At a stroke the world will see the French for what they really are, the EU will be exposed for the infantile bully it has become and the Uk can take both the EUSSR (in the making) and the French to the courts.

    • Nothing is white or black.

      When you read the french papers about this story its not as simple as a threat.

      In fact the french see a threat from the UK in the fish management of Jersey since they have add some lines in the “contract”, not specified with the EU.

      So… another political “war” between the EU and UK about the fishs.

      As a french I see that just ridicoulous from all point…

      • Hermes,
        The local jersey paper explained the situation that the new rules were promulgated as of the 1st January 2021. I quote
        “”The Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement, TECA, is quite clear that vessels should provide evidence of their fishing in our waters. They had to provide evidence of ten days’ worth of fishing in order to qualify for a licence. TECA envisages that we would give them a licence to fish to the same extent as for the past three years.’

        There were, he explained, two other issues causing tension. One was the number of dredging lines that could be used by dredging boats and the second was about limits to protect bream stocks. Senator Gorst said that the dredging condition was the same as applied to Jersey boats and that the Environment Minister had decided that the limit on bream was necessary to help ensure sustainability.

        ‘It is extremely disappointing that the French have taken the steps they have rather than keeping communication channels open,’ he added.

        A spokesperson for the UK’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Department said: ‘We are clear that Jersey is responsible for its own territorial waters. The UK government is constitutionally responsible for the international relations of the Crown Dependencies. As such, we have been working closely with the EU and the Government of Jersey on fisheries access provisions following the end of the transition period for licensing.’””

        https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2021/05/05/french-threaten-to-blockade-island-as-fishing-row-erupts/

  5. So will this be Cod War IV ???

    We should maybe sub contract it to ze Jarmans, the French have a pretty poor record against those lads. 😂

  6. Remember: “Brexit means Brexit”?
    The PM signed a hasty agreement the full implications of which he did not understand (as for N.I.). Now the chickens have come to roost and he’s playing the military card. Will play well in the British popular press and, dare I say on the UKDJ forum. However, it is fair to say that most EU leaders (see Barnier’s book published today) have lost faith in HM’s Government to keep its word.
    It is very sad and the sooner we come to an amicable agreement on this matter, as on the Irish border, the better. Bellicose posts on this forum are not helpful.
    Last time I looked the Lancaster House agreements are still in force and the RN and MN have a splendid record on co-operation and personnel exchanges (RN officers on CDG and MN naval NCOs serving and helping on HM Ships for example).
    May cool heads prevail.

  7. Fighting each other over fish. Go get China while there is still a chance at a global managable fish stock.

  9. Insanely careless language coming out of the French government, what on Earth has gotten into them?

    • Macron appears to have had a go on Von Der Leyen and is like a teenager in love..

    • Nothing is white or black.

      When you read the french papers about this story its not as simple as a threat.

      In fact the french see a threat from the UK in the fish management of Jersey since they have add some lines in the “contract”, not specified with the EU.

      So, for the french politician involved, it’s an UK threat against the EU…

      So… another political “war” between the EU and UK about the fishs.

      As a french I see that just ridicoulous from all point…

      NB: Did you have see any “easy” relation between England and France in their History ?
      It’s not close to happen if we are not fighting someone else…

      • Unfortunately french fisherman have a long history of threatening their UK counterparts even ehen the UK was following french rules. The French are 100% wrong – if they want licences follow Jersey rules. Simple.

        • “Unfortunately french fisherman have a long history of threatening their UK counterparts”

          I dont think it’s only in one way.
          We have the same tensions with spanish, sometimes we have heard about some little wars with gunfights between fishing boat…

          “if they want licences follow Jersey rules.”
          Not as simple with the brexit deal… From the french view, it’s the UK who have break the rules and is a threat.

          I dont understand how our politicians (UK/FR and even EU) are not able to be intelligent and must use the civilians life as hostage for themselves.

  10. One point which is not being mentioned is that the Jersey Electricity Co has two power stations on standby which can meet our needs if the French were to cut our link to their grid. I think that everyone here is very glad that the navy is on its way.

  11. This is a defence site so I won’t mention politics but seriously what are the skippers of the OPVs expected to do? How can an OPV stop the French turning the power off? If the RN boards and arrests French fishing boats what will the implications of that be? What happens if the French send a Frigate too? Tub thumpers aside this is all very VERY stupid.

    • It’s just polictical deflection. French government is no doubt trying to deflect from issues at home, and the UK gov is trying to deflect from the fact they have completely stitched up the fishing industry with the deal. All in all it will come to nothing other than media stories and sound bites.

      • I think too…

        I’m not interesting in fishing industry so I cant really understand everything about the problems but from my point of view it’s really hard to understand how the question can be so hard since we are neighbor since centuries…

        Politics create problems from nothing.
        If they can turn as physics law, how wonderful can be the universe !

    • It’s the French playing silly buggers so you will need to convince them they’re being idiots. The rest of us know already.

      As for cutting power UK should bsn ALl french fishing boats from UK waters until further notice. Boarding in Jersey/UK waters is likely entirel legal.

    • Rob, If the RN sent the whole fleet to the Channel Islands they can and nothing wrong, if the French sent a single OPV that is not in distress or has permission that can be seen as an act of war. As someone pointed out the Channel Islands are a Crown Dependency left over from the old Norman conquest. If I am to be really correct there is still the theoretical links of the English/ Normandy. I’m not 100% sure but even the three lions of England is an extension of the two lions of Normandy.

      In all reallity this spat is stupid the authorities of Jersey have asked for the fishermens proof of historic fishing so that a new license can be issued. If the authorities of Jersey said that all boats are to be painted pink with black spots in their waters then they can it is their waters so their rules. I do think there is more to this spat than meets the eye, possbily Macron is having issues at home, possibly the issue of the French seeing a Crown Dependency a few miles of their coast, possibly an extension of the Brexit fallout and that French fishermen cannot or are now limited in their catch quota.

      As for the French attempt at blackmail/coercion, that is illegal and again if that act puts the life of a person or people at risk could have very bad repercustions. I know that as a private person if I said to someone if you do not do x then I will do y to you I would be up in front of the Crown Court and face several years in jail. So possibly we should just put out a warrent for the arrest of the French Minesters that have said what they did to face the courts. That would be fun to watch, but legally correct.

      • It’s polictics.

        Boris and the brexitiers made an huge issue around fishing, and industry that represents 0.01% of our economy, as it was seen as an easy industry for people to understand how EU membership impacted it. What everyone seemed to forget was most of the fish was sold into Europe (which I mentioned here many times) and so our government and newspapers are playing silly git over our waters (for example taking forever to grant licences to fish in our waters to foreign boats), without realising they are also damaging our fishing industry (not being able to sell their fish or now fish in Norwegian water, which is the main fish eaten in the UK).

        It seems all postering on our side of the channel has annoyed the French fishing industry, which is far more vocal than ours. If our fishing etc industries protested like the French, the country would realise just how bad a deal we got with the EU.

        Until things settle down back to status quo of pre brexit, there will be a lot of these style events. We are hardly whiter than white here.

        Sending the opv is just the government’s way of saying we are doing something, without actually doing anything about the underlying problem.

        • Agreed, to be honest I would take the politicians from both sides and bash their heads together. I would expect better from a child, then again most children have better brains than politicians.

  12. Just as Martlet and Sea Venom are coming online, Lets deploy some Wildcats to Jersey to supplement the OPVs

    • Funny to read some “go to war” even with an island at some km off the french coast.
      Just for some politics who try to play a political game where none of us is really involved…

      Did you really want to go in a war against France just for the fish law and the brexit ?
      I hope it’s a joke or the brits are more infected by stupidity than what I ever thinked…

      Just for your information, before going at war dont forget that our coasts are in range of artillery (Jersey/Dover)… Noneeds for missile.

      • Hermes, the internet is a strange place. Its easy to shout for war when you’re sat at home picking your nose. It can generate a bit of drama on an otherwise boring day.

        I really can’t see the UK and the French going to war any time soon but sadly there will be some who fantasise about it.

      • Hi Hermes,

        I would suggest that some of the comments are ‘tongue in cheek’ and is more a reflection of odd British humour.

        The whole situation has been elevated to silly levels by the threat to cut off the electrical supply to Jersey. If those comments had not been made I doubt it would be such an issue here and perhaps the situation would be easier to sort out, but politicians sometimes have to be seen to be tough which is not always helpful.

        We live in stange times.

        Nice posts by the way.

        Cheers CR

  13. The French play well, they defend their fishing industry. And also their defence industry, by the way: they have just sell 30 more Rafale to Egypt this week…

  14. Love the country, love the people, hate the government…and in my experience that goes for a lot of Bretons too.

  16. Where are those that suck up to the French constantly on this and say they are allies? Who needs enemies when you have friends like France?

  17. Oh look, someone has stirred up the French on Polling day and the Royal Navy are sending TWO OPVs. Strange timing.

      • Oh dear Chap, this is perfectly timed for Major Bluffer Blojo Sleaze to display some posture and inspire the brexiteers to vote for a con again.

        • Is it?

          So the Jersey Govt is in cahoots with Boris to upset the French for a very minor advantage? And its not just a predictable outcome of the tension and conflicts at national and local levels and the local govt possibly being less than competent (OMG the shock and surprise!) combined with grossly OTT French emotional responses.

          You know full well any PM, Blair/Brown etc would have sent OPVs, whose job it is to monitor fisheries – to monitor a significant fishery dispute that has boats sailing round harassing people and threatening them.

          Your dislike of Boris blinds you, but I suppose if you look under beds all the time you may well start to see reds!

  18. I think this may just be posturing by the french president, he has elections shortly and wants to look tough regarding fishing to appease the electorate.

  19. This is a non-story. Just a bit of pathetic electioneering probably by the tories. Try looking into the fact before getting all jingoistic.

    • Electioneering by the Tories? I think they have plenty of other things to think about, as do Labour.

    • I suppose it was the Tories fault a French minister talks of cutting power supplies….🙄

  20. Hi all, I’ve been an avid reader of this site for a while now but as I’m not ex-military there was little value for me to add.

    However in this instance I do live on the little rock that is Jersey.
    Just read the posts on this matter. As of now we can see the French boats grouped around the bay where our main harbour lies. One of the OPVs is further off watching. They were in the harbour earlier this morning and did briefly disrupt our primary commercial goods vessel from leaving for a couple hours, but eventually let her go.

    All peaceful for now, and also a couple of Jersey boats joined them (they are exporters to France so in all sorts of trouble). Other Jersey fisherman are vehemently against them, with accusations of overfishing etc.

    One other point, as per the posts re history the island was indeed very close to France culturally until the late 1940s. After that period we have seen a massive increase in the population with immigrants from the UK, resulting in the local French language pretty much dying and links reducing substantially. Pretty much all our food, goods and culture now comes from UK, and aside from electricity and a few tourists very little else from France.

    There is widespread consternation at the militancy being shown by the fishermen, but more so to the idiotic electricity comments. And no, I’d rather my tea warm! (but we do have backup diesel generators…)

  21. This is a quote from the remarkably well informed BBC 😁😁

    ‘HMS Severn and HMS Tamar are based in Portsmouth. They are both 90.5m in length, have two large guns, including a short-range anti-aircraft weapon, and are crewed by 45 sailors and up to 50 Royal Marines.

    • Laughable reporting by the BBC – two… warships… have arrived. Don’t tell HMT, they’ll cut funding for T31, 😉

    • Terrifying Herodotus. From the service supposed to set the standard for the rest of the world!!! the whole affair much ado about nothing but stirred up by the ill informed and Colonel Blimps. Having said taht though(says he really TRYING to be objective) i think the French overstepped the mark with the threat to the electricity supply. Regards

    • PS-I got 4 howlers-Severn shorter than Tamar, two BIG guns,anti-aircraft weapon, and crewed by..Royal marines. 😁

      • Maybe they mean between the two vessels there are two large guns (1 x 20mm on Severn & 1 x 30mm on Tamar) with Tamar’s 30mm being considered short range anti-air?

        It also says they are crewed by sailors with up to 50 Royal marines on board for interdictions & spot checks etc… Unless the report has been updated it doesn’t say crewed by RM.

        • Check the link I provided above…it says: ‘and are crewed by 45 sailors and up to 50 Royal Marines.’

          • Yeah I’ve misread that… However, I wouldn’t call it a howler as Geoff has to refer to ’embarked’ royal marines as ‘crew’ when it states ‘crewed by’ 45 sailors & up to 50 royal marines…I’d imagine most of the public wouldn’t care to differentiate. I understood the difference when I read it which is where my confusion came from.

            Sloppy reporting of a non event really, but if the BBC are going to bang the ‘my ships bigger than your ship’ drum they should do their research. They’ve clearly focussed on the length, crew numbers and ‘gun size’ as a dig at the 32 Mtr fast boat the French have sent… Again, pointless really like most political kerfuffle’s.

    • The day before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral the BBC were live from Portsmouth. The reporter said, and I paraphrase, ‘Behind me you see the two new carriers, named after the Duke’s Wife and Son’. Just a teeny bit of research would have been useful.

      • Perhaps we should recommend the BBC to employ DM as a defence editor to run his beady eye over their stories before they make idiots of themselves!

  23. Political posturing from all sides, frankly.
    The French government aren’t being clear on the situation, but the UK government are being unnecessarily combative too.
    My understanding is that it’s taken longer to get paperwork through for some of the French boats, and they aren’t allowed to fish until it’s done. Also, some of Jersey’s rules may have changed regarding allowed catch, but for all vessels?
    These changes were anounced in January, France has done nothing to smooth the transition, Jersey should have been able to process well over the 100 French fishing applications in 5 months, and the UK government just seems to be stirring the waters. All because the governments on both sides of the channel could do with the public’s focus be moved to a convenient scapegoat.
    At the least the Rivers are more or less the boats for this task- glad that the B1s weren’t retired. However, this really isn’t a task for the RN. Give the Rivers to a re-organised coastguard in the style of the USCG and avoid the hassles that deploying grey warships to fishing disputes causes.

  24. The EU have just restricted the UK’s access to Norwegian waters they have fished for a very long time, so the Frenchies can’t complain.

    Threatening to cut the supply the electricity to an island just shows the nick of the French and EU.

    It also shows the stupidity of trusting foreign powers. Jersey needs to look at now having their own independent power generation facilities.

    • Storm in a teacup….electricity from France is much cheaper than Jersey generating it independently. Britain imports French electricity when needed!

      • I haven’t looked but surely Wind power would be an ideal option for an independant power source – although maybe they don’t want those monstrosities spoiling the view – and I cant say I blame em.
        Failing that get one of those Rolls Royce mini Nuclear plants over there – great opportunity for some real world testing.
        We could also ensure the wind farms have a ‘blow’ setting & point to France only , just in case theres any issues with the Nuclear plant😀

        • Any option would require massive investment…for what purpose? None that’s worth the candle 😊 in reality!

    • So out of interest whats your view on HMG ‘allowing’ China & EDF (part French owned) to be involved with building and running the new UK Nuclear Power Stations – including btw allowing the Chinese to trial a new design here in the UK?
      You couldn’t make it up – its asking for trouble and quite simply shouldnt be allowed, but hey – when money talks you can forget sovereign integrity.

    • Jersey already has power generation fscilities but they are dearer to run/less green than that provided by the interconnector. I imagine that some quick checks are being run on it just in case.

    • That’s not true, Norway is like Jersey in that it administers its own fisheries policy underneath the EU-wide common fisheries agreement. It’s not a fully paid up member of the EU.
      The EU, Norway and the UK came to overall quota agreements and suchlike earlier this year, but the UK and Norway then had to hold bilateral talks on exact quotas in each others’ waters. Those are what have broken down.
      I’m not saying that the EU is always blameless, but direct blame where it’s due- in thi case on our government and Norway’s.

  25. The Guardian is unhappy about sending “gunboats” and tries to link it to the Tories wanting to bolster their votes.

    It’s found an ex ambassador who could “not believe how stupid, on every level, it is to send gunboats”. He’d negotiated the original treaty in the early 90s.

    Makes you wonder at what point the diplomatic type would do something.

    The Yes Minister sketch where the FO’s mantra was do nothing – do nothing – do nothing – now too late to do anything so do nothing; really was spot on.

  26. The French don’t understand that the UK government have no say in Jersey’s trade policy. Jersey is a self governing Crown Dependancy. The Jersey Government have delegated defence & foreign affairs to the UK Government but trade & so on is their own affair. I’m not saying that the new regulations are a good idea, just that it’s not down to the UK government.

  27. Just saw on the BBC footage of sailor loading up a case Guinness and a case of fosters for this trip lol.

  28. This is a not very clever ploy to deploy just before the elections, just in time for Boris to send in the navy to go in and assist Bergerac.

  29. I dont understand the whole picture with what is going on here but i do like the French passion for protest to get the government’s attention. In Britain we have become a bit passive, we sign a petition but that’s about it, maybe because the last two big protests the stop the war and student fees had so little impact.q

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