The captain of the British scallop trawler detained by France has been ordered to appear in court next year, French authorities have announced, marking the latest escalation in the post-Brexit dispute over fishing licences.
Cyrille Fournier, the deputy prosecutor of Le Havre, where the boat was seized, said its skipper had been asked to appear in court on August 11, 2022, accused of operating in French territorial waters without a valid permit.
“The captain of the ship Cornelis Gert Jan has been summoned by Maritime Gendarmerie to appear at the criminal court of Le Havre on August 11, 2022, to be judged on unauthorised sea fishing in French waters by a third party vessel to the European Union,” he said.
“Indeed, after verification, the captain of the vessel did not have the authorisation required to fish in the French exclusive economic zone.”
The owner of the vessel, Scottish seafood giant Macduff Shellfish, insists it had been operating legally. The Cornelis Gert Jan – a Scottish trawler – was held in the French port while its captain was interrogated and threatened with a €75,000 fine.
Andrew Brown, director of MacDuff Shellfish, said the boat was fishing legally and suggested the vessel had “slipped off the list” of approved licences because of a clerical error committed on the UK side.
"It appears our vessel is another political pawn in the ongoing dispute between the UK and France on the implementation of the Brexit Fishing Agreement," he said.
Clement Beaune, France’s Europe minister, on Thursday warned that the “language of force ... seems to be the only thing this British Government understands”.
With tensions mounting over the flashpoint issue, the French ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office later on Friday for a formal rebuke after Britain condemned the country’s detention of the boat and accused Paris of breaching international law.
Britain and France have been at loggerheads over how to resolve the row, with EU and UK officials locked in negotiations over whether more permits to operate in British waters could be granted to French fishermen.
On Friday, Julien Denormandie, France’s agriculture minister, said there had been no progress in the discussions, and insisted Paris was right to threaten the UK with sanctions.
The French government has warned of retaliatory action, including banning British fishing boats from its ports and raising tariffs on electricity supplies to Jersey, unless Britain grants more licences.
Britain is considering its own package of countermeasures should Paris press ahead with its threats, including restricting access to UK waters further.
Paris is furious that just 15 out of 47 licences have been granted to French fishermen to operate in Britain’s coastal waters. Its anger is also directed at Jersey, which it claims delivered less than half of the 216 permits it had requested.
Bruno Bonnell, a member of the French parliament, on Friday insisted Britain had sparked the dispute by refusing 244 licences for French trawlers.
“I like the idea that France is threatening… It’s like a chicken and egg situation, now the blame is on France when originally it was somewhere else,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Mr Bonnell said French fishermen were losing “25 per cent” of their business each month they are not allowed to operate in Britain’s coastal waters.
“If we face a situation where licences are blocked, there will be some retaliation,” he added. “I don’t know if it’s fair or not, I just know the whole thing started because the principle of the deal out of Brexit was broken by the English authorities.”
The EU has so far tried to stay out of the conflict, saying simply that it is investigating.
But Thierry Breton, France’s European commissioner, on Friday suggested the bloc backed France’s hardline position in the row.
“I completely understand the position and the exasperation of France,” he told France Info radio. “The support of the European Commission is there and it always has been from the start.”