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Scores of French fishermen are planning to 'invade' the Minquiers at midday today in protest against the "erosion" of their fishing rights – and, for the first time in many years, will be supported by their Jersey colleagues.
Normandy's regional fishing committee said that that fishers on both sides were dissatisfied with how their livelihoods had been handled by their respective governments in the wake of Brexit, with shared concerns over increasing restrictions on fishing areas, and the possibility of more to come under Jersey's proposed Marine Spatial Plan.
But the protest will be far from the explosive event that took place in Jersey's waters in 2021, which saw the harbour blocked by dozens of boats, flares let off, and naval ships sent in by the UK and France to watch over, and an emergency call between Jersey Ministers and then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Instead, it will be an opportunity for fishermen from Normandy, Brittany and Jersey to discuss their mutual challenges, and open dialogue on how to find solutions.
Pictured: The 2021 protests made national headlines.
Julien Mouton, a lobster fisherman from Caen and one of the lead organisers, told Express: "It's a peaceful action – there'll be a picnic and a barbecue.
"...We are all fishermen, coming together."
Emmanuelle Marie, a fisher based in Granville, who will be taking part today, told Express she couldn't imagine a future for the industry under the current system.
She reiterated that it would be a "peaceful meeting" for individuals in a sector currently "surrounded by conflict".
"We have planned to meet each other – British, Jersey, Breton and Norman fishers – to express our anger and show that we're here, that we will now act, we will win our case and be heard."
Among the key frustrations on the French side has been the drop in the number of permits awarded to French fishers since Jersey drew up new rules to manage its territorial waters post-Brexit.
Before Brexit, the Normandy committee said there were 152 fishing permits allowing Norman fishers to access Jersey waters, but this number has been more than halved, with just 81 currently.
Adding to the challenge has been a bureaucratic formality arising from Brexit which means French fishers cannot negotiate directly with Jersey, and were therefore often slowed down by French administration, which she said was "of a slowness and incapacity which are quite impressive".
This, she said, was "not at all at our advantage", and had been a "catastrophe" for some boats.
Small producers are particularly badly affected, she added, with sky-high fees for fishing licences and the inability to access Jersey waters chunks of the year.
Other demands from the French side include the long-awaited installation of a sanitary check inspection post known as a SIVEP in Granville – which would allow catch from Jersey to be brought directly to Granville – reducing post-Brexit red tape.
Steve Viney, a spokesperson for the Jersey Fishing Association, said one of the reasons Jersey fishermen would be heading to the Minquiers to initiate discussions today is that there is a "lot of common ground" between them.
The Jersey industry had also suffered greatly as a result of Brexit, with the island's treatment as a "third country" leaving French fishers operating in the same waters as Jersey able to easily land catch in France, while Jersey cannot.
But perhaps the most pressing and imminent mutual threat to both sides, he said, was Jersey's proposed Marine Spatial Plan, which sets out how the island seeks to make 23% of the island's territorial waters marine-protected areas, and lays the foundation for a potential new wind farm.
Pictured: The draft Marine Spatial Plan was published earlier this year.
This means access to areas that both French and Jersey fishers have operated in for "hundreds of years" will be limited even further, Mr Viney said, and potential creation of a wind farm later on will have a further impact.
He said that fishers had shared their concerns with Jersey's Government and Scrutiny over the course of "several meetings", and even proposed a map that they felt would strike a balance in protecting the marine environment as well as maritime industry livelihoods.
But he said these calls had fallen on deaf ears amid what the industry felt to be a "rushed process" to get the MSP agreed.
"We've been totally ignored," he said, adding that the industry was "really on a knife-edge".
Today, he said, would be the "first fisherman-level interaction since the Bay of Granville agreement fell apart... we are going to start to work together".
The Normandy committee said all sides would like "acts" from Jersey politicians, "not more declarations of love or intention" towards their hard-hit industry.
"Politicians don't stop promising better tomorrows and don't stop employing tools such as new environmental rules to make French fishers disappear from their historic waters in Jersey... and as a result, their own fishers!"
It's understood that Jersey will be sending patrol vessels to the area to monitor today's demonstration.
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