COMMENTS FROM OUR EXPERTS

FRENCH fishermen have a track record of this kind of blockade but more often than not it is directed at their own government.

But now they are targeting our own waters with their blockade of Jersey.

Sending in HMS Severn and HMS Tamar is in part a political move, a symbol of Britain’s determination to protect its waters and to send a strong diplomatic message to France’s President Emmanuel Macron as well as the fishermen.

But the two patrol ships can also take action. They can board any fishing boat to check they are observing regulations, that the mesh-size of their nets is not so small that young fish cannot escape or that they are keeping out of protected areas.

The boarding parties might go out in an inflatable but they normally need the assistance, or at least the acquiescence, of the fishing boat to do this.

If the boat does not want to cooperate, you could deploy a helicopter with Marines roping down on to the deck.

But it could go wrong. One boarding party boarded a French fishing boat which promptly set off at speed back to France with the RN personnel onboard.

Unfortunately, the post-Brexit fishery deal has not so far produced a stable and working fishery arrangement, and the fishermen of all the nations, including our own, have been disadvantaged.

The custom of European fishing vessels, including Britain’s, operating in other nations’ waters is mired in history for well over a century and has allowed reasonable access to everyone’s advantage.

This has included allowing some French vessels to fish in Jersey’s waters. Our own fishermen have enjoyed reciprocal rights.

The present position needs early resolution by negotiation before it escalates further and serious personal and political injury is caused, perhaps spreading to other EU nations and other common issues.

In any treaty, whether it be marriage or an international one, neither party can have everything it wants. Mutually acceptable compromise is the only route to a stable and mutually beneficial situation.