Brexit: French fishermen announce day of action - this coming Friday.

Note to diary:

Thursday, November 25, at 2:30 p.m. 

This is the date chosen by the National Fisheries Committee, the three regional committees and the departmental fisheries committees bordering the Channel (Hauts-de-France, Normandy and Brittany) to unveil, during a decentralised press conference, the blocking actions they intend to carry out, the next day, to show the British their determination to obtain the fishing licenses to which they believe they have the right in the waters of the Channel Islands and the UK 6 to 12 miles.

According to Olivier Leprêtre, president of the Hauts-de-France regional fisheries committee, these actions will target more flows to the United Kingdom than those coming from it.

The Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, who had met his British counterpart David Frost on Sunday evening, followed on Monday 22 with the Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Brexit, Maros Sefcovic. He reminded him of the importance of this issue that the European Commission, obsessed with the Irish border issue, did not “take seriously enough at the start  If Europe is not able collectively to demand respect for it (the trade agreement), and to obtain it, we will have a long-term problem with its implementation ” .

Penlee and Sennen lifeboats called out to assist French trawler La Fanette adrift off Lands End.

Major rescue as fishing boat gets stranded in storm coastguard helicopter airlifts crew to safety.

Penlee and Sennen lifeboats both returned to Newlyn this morning - the weather being to rough at Sennen to allow the lifeboat to be retrieved.

Video courtesy of MCA/SAR crew from Newquay.

Six crew from a fishing vessel in distress have been airlifted from their disabled vessel off Lands End in atrocious weather conditions over night.The six crew on board were airlifted from the fishing vessel by Newquay Coastguard Rescue Helicopter.

Speaking after this morning's incredible rescue, Captain Sharky Finn from Newquay Coastguard helicopter said: 'This is definitely one of the most challenging jobs we’ve seen at Newquay. We were flying into a Force 8 gale with 20ft high waves swirling beneath us and we could clearly see the fishing vessel disappearing beneath the swell as we approached.

'We had the support of RNLI Sennen Cove on scene who had tried to establish a tow line but were unable to do so because of the severe weather conditions.

'We tried a variety of different winching positions as the fishing vessel pitched and rolled violently underneath us before lowering a hi-line and then our winchman to the bow. The only way we could do this was turn the helicopter 90 degrees out of winds which meant we were effectively flying sideways. Needless to say, it was very challenging deck; it stretched the capabilities of both the crew and the aircraft. However, despite this pressure we were able to take our time and safely recovered all six crewmates and our winchman to the aircraft before returning to the Newquay base. We’re grateful for the support of the Newquay Coastguard Rescue Team and the Newlyn Seaman’s Mission who met us when we returned.'

The trawler had been fishing north of the Scillys when her main engine failed...

she drifted SSE after the crew had dropped her trawl on the seabed to anchor her some 8 miles west of  Pendeen...

both Sennen and Penlee lifeboats were paged around 3am this morning to assist after the crew were airlifted off by helicopter...

the trawler is now being monitored by the MCA and coastguard as she drifts, abandoned, slowly south in heavy seas...

another French trawle, Alf stopped by briefly on her way steaming northwards.


The MCA reported the story early this morning:

HM Coastguard was alerted at around 10pm on Tuesday night to the 24 metre French registered fishing vessel, La Fanette which had suffered engine failure. Another fishing vessel went to assist and HM Coastguard requested the launch of Sennen Cove RNLI lifeboat. Despite atrocious weather, Sennen Cove Lifeboat launched but due to 5-6 metre waves on scene and storm force winds, it was impossible for either the fishing vessel or the lifeboat to establish a tow with La Fanette. Penlee RNLI all weather lifeboat also attended.

The six crew on board were airlifted from the fishing vessel by Newquay Coastguard Rescue Helicopter.

Penlee lifeboat Crew - Coxswain Patch Harvey, Mechanic Tony Rendle, David Pascoe, Ben Keogh, Andrew Wood, Jack Shannon, and Dan Sell.

"Six crew from a fishing vessel in distress have been airlifted from their disabled vessel off Lands End in atrocious weather conditions over night.

"HM Coastguard was alerted at around 10pm on Tuesday night to the 24m French registered fishing vessel, La Fanette, which had suffered engine failure.

"Another fishing vessel went to assist and HM Coastguard requested the launch of Sennen Cove RNLI lifeboat.

This video was shot aboard the vessel some 5 years ago. She was built in 2012 by Socarenam for Armament Quirat Porcher-Lemaitre

The Fanette is now under tow from a sistership Faradet...

and expected to rendevous with the French tug Kermor around midnight tonight.

Some wise words from Barrie Deas on the Baie de Seine scallop dispute and its Brexit implications.

The recent clashes in the Channel between UK and French fishing vessels over scallop grounds highlight a number of important issues. The most important of these is that, whatever the rights and wrongs of disputes over fishing rights, it is never permissible to resort to intimidation and violence. There have been many fishing disputes in the past and doubtless there will be many in the future. French and British boats clashed earlier this week in video captured by France 3.

The correct place to resolve these is around the table, not on the high seas using flares, bottles stones and shackles to intimidate crews. Our vessels were forced to withdraw from the disputed area as skippers feared for the welfare of their crews. The issues this week led us to raise the matter with the British government. 

We asked for protection for our vessels, which were fishing legitimately as part of their work in the UK scallop industry, which is worth £120m and supports 1,350 jobs. While the clashes off the coast of Normandy have made headlines around the world, it is worth noting that every day of the week many French fishing vessels fish within UK waters, sometimes as close as six miles from the coast, much to the annoyance of British fishermen.

On many occasions, UK fishermen have been tied up, quotas exhausted, as French vessels with their much more generous allocations have continued to fish in sight of land. The French share of Channel cod is 84 per cent. The UK share is nine per cent. This has been intensely frustrating but at no time have British fishermen resorted to intimidating or violent tactics. Only last week, French trawlers - not for the first time - towed away crab pots set Cornish fishermen only eight miles from the UK coast. This provocation was met with fury and protests by our fishermen but also restraint. 

The UK’s departure from the European Union, and therefore from the Common Fisheries Policy, will be a game changer. It is true, as the local French fishermen engaged in the Baie de Seine dispute claim, that after Brexit UK vessels will have no longer have an automatic right of access to fish in this area because it is located within the French Exclusive Economic Zone. Their French colleagues along the coast will not, however, miss the much bigger implication. 

As the UK will (automatically) become an independent coastal state when the UK leaves the EU, French vessels will no longer have an automatic right to fish in the UK Exclusive Economic Zone. As the European fleets currently catch around six times as much in UK waters as UK vessels catch in EU waters, they rightly understand that the writing is on the wall for the grossly asymmetrical arrangements that have existed under the Common Fisheries Policy. 

Under UN law of the sea, the coastal state has responsibility for managing the resources within its EEZ and to determine who will be allowed to fish in its waters and under what conditions. The EU will of course have the same rights to exclude or apply conditions to UK vessels fishing in French waters. But their pool of resources is much smaller and our effort in their waters by comparison is tiny. 

The attacks were carried out in international waters - outside the French 12 mile limit.

The scallop wars last week were a local spasm that will have embarrassed the Government in Paris. France, and all of the other EU fishing nations, are intent on keeping something as close as possible to the status quo on access to fish in UK waters and quota shares. Their cause is not helped by a bring it on attitude within parts of the French industry. 

Controlling access to our waters and rebalancing quota shares to more closely reflect the resources located within UK waters are a centrepiece within the Government’s White Paper of Fisheries. Doubtless there will be a period of adjustment with more or less turbulence, but things will settle down. There is a legal obligation on all countries which share transboundary fish stocks, to cooperate in their management and sustainable exploitation. 

The most likely future model for management of shared stocks is annual bilateral agreements – as currently happens between EU and Norway. Safe harvesting rates are agreed on the basis of scientific advice and levels of access to fish in each other’s waters, along with quota shares are agreed during autumn negotiations each 
year. 

The French authorities have primary responsibility for ensuring that there is no recurrence of the anarchic and troubling scenes witnessed last week. If such events were to take place in UK waters, doubtless a police investigation would be under way and there is no dearth of evidence, supplied on video by the perpetrators themselves. On the political front, a meeting is to be held in London next week involving Government officials and fishing representatives from both sides to try to resolve the dispute. 

Scallops are a valuable resource and it is vital that they are fished only at sustainable levels. There is no fundamental reason why in a spirit of reconciliation and compromise, a deal acceptable to both sides cannot be reached. And in the meantime, the UK continues to head for the door, leaving the Common Fisheries Policy behind. This rather than the events of last week is the bigger game in play. Barrie Deas is Chief Executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations.

Read more at: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/barrie-deas-scallop-wars-a-skirmish-compared-to-bigger-game-of-brexit-1-9329424

Serious scallop situation in the Baie de Seine - again.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this long standing dispute between British and French scallop fishermen the jingoistic language used by the media reporting the story with calls to 'send in the navy' and comments like 'sink a few frogs' serve only to further divisions rather than focus on the real issue at stake.

However, when a fishing boat - fishing legally - is bombarded with petrol bombs, the situation needs addressing with the utmost urgency in order to protect the welfare of all concerned.  Fish, whatever their value, are not worth the lives of fishermen - but they are their livelihoods.

This long standing dispute can only be solved by talk - calls to 'send in the navy', sink a 'few frogs' and other calls for similar action will, as history tells, solve nothing.  This has nothing to do with Brexit either - though the consequences of Brexit could potentially result in British fishermen no longer fish in the Baie de Sine as the area off the Normandy coast is well inside the median line between France and the UK and in French territorial waters.

The protest must have been carefully orchestrated by the French fishermen as this video footage shows there is a TV crew aboard one (many of which were not scallopers) of the french trawlers taking part in support of their own scallop fishermen.

Around 1:58 a flare is fired over one of the British scallopers.

This was how France 3 Normandy reported the incident (Translated by Google):

"Forty fishermen from Normandy left very early to sea on August 28, 2018. Their objective? Meet with their English counterparts to express their dissatisfaction with the scallop fishery. A meeting that degenerated into a naval battle!

A naval battle off Normandy! Between 40 and 50 fishermen went to sea early this morning from Trouville-sur-Mer, Port-en-Bessin or Ouistreham (Calvados). They headed for England, off the Seine Bay, to meet English fishermen with scallops.

A meeting that turned to confrontation. The forty or so French boats surrounded the English ships to force them to stop fishing. While the smoke and the insults added more to the atmosphere, some boats were rammed while driving on others. Three boats were damaged with holes in their hulls.

After the first charge, the British retreated before counter-attacking! The boats turned around again and, amid tense exchanges, the gendarmes are busy. In particular, the latter carried out checks on the British.

Unfair competition

The Norman fishermen complain of unfair competition in international waters. Indeed, fishermen flying the tricoluor (French) flag are not allowed to fish scallops before 1 October each year. The English do not have this restriction upon them so can legally fish for scallops in the bay. Consequence: the French must often be content with the result.

"The French regulation requires French fishermen not to exploit the shell between May 15 and October 1. The English do not have to respect this regulation," approves Dimitri Rogoff, president of the Regional Committee for Marine Fisheries of Normandy."

The story was headline news on BBC News at One today - starts at 1302.

Updated BBC report: Scallop row: French police pledge more boats to keep peace
 


Later in the day the French national maritime news weekly (equivalent of the Uk's Fishing News) posted this follow-up article:

Baie de Seine: Call for the return of "peace on the water"

In the wake of the forceful expedition of 35 Norman ships against five British shells on the edge of the Seine Bay on Tuesday, August 28, Dimitri Rogoff, president of the CRPMEM of Normandy, called Wednesday, August 29 for the return of "peace on the water" .

"It went a little too far on both sides ," said Dimitri Rogoff. There is a time to protest at sea and a time to discuss . But we must remember that the French fishermen have agreed to manage their deposit for a long time and that the British come, collect all because they are not held to the same limits as us. Then they freeze the shell and sell it at low prices in France. It's double standards ... "

"I regret the altercation, but I understand it. It could not finish otherwise , added Pascal Coquet, vice-president of the CNPMEM, president of the shell commission. I hope that will not happen again. " .

No agreement with the English this year

For this lively resumption of the "war of the scallop" has a cause: "The agreement that we have usually with the English, exchange of kilowatt-days against the fact that they do not come to the scallops before the 1 st of October , was not renewed in July , explains Pascal Coquet. As a result, as they are short of fishing days, they threatened to come and make the area " blank" on the scallops and several boats had started a few days ago. "

According to Dimitri Rogoff and Pascal Coquet, as the agreement reached so far with the British did not encompass boats less than 15 metres, their number in the British flotilla has increased in a few years from just ten to fifty. "There was a flaw in this deal, they rushed into it. In July, in the region, then in national, the French fishermen said that the agreement would not be renewed if the English did not accept to include their ships of less than 15 meters in it ..." , explains Dimitri Rogoff.

Resumption of negotiations?

"The British are in their right (when they come out of the 12-mile limit, Ed.) , But as we have not signed an agreement this year, their fishermen may run out of fishing days to use up, adds Pascal Coquet. If they finally agree to include boats under 15 meters in the agreement, we are quite ready to get back around a table. "

The British leader for scallops, Jim Portus, reconnected with his counterparts on the evening of the naval confrontation. And Pascal Coquet said Wednesday, August 29 that he had responded by proposing the resumption of negotiations to find an agreement between the two fleets and remove the tension.

Story courtesy of Alexandra TURCAT from le Marin Posted on 29/08/2018 16:09 | Updated on 29/08/2018 20:02

Small boats, big seas.

With gale warnings giving 10s and 11s for Plymnouth, Sole, Lundy and Fastnet...

it's no wonder to see a dozen French trawlers east side of the Lizard, a small number are dodging out of the weather close to the land off the Helford while a few hardy types continue fishing right along the six mile limit...

further out to sea, the small coaster Arklow Ranger is battling into huge seas off the Lizard and has been reduced to making around 2knots ever since she cleared the Lizard in the early ours of this morning, she has altered course to make the run north around Land's End more comfortable as the wind hopefully eases...

though at the moment the new Cefas Wavenet weather service webpage is showing 10 and 11 meter high waves right where she is headed!

the weather is so bad that the Sanskip Endeavour has been forced to turn round and seek shelter in Mount's Bay - the skipper having decided that rounding Land's End would be too dangerous for her.

A visitor's view of Newlyn.

The voyage of the French yacht Video Bleu II

It is worth looking at the comments on various blogs of visiting yachts to Newlyn - unbiased customer feedback - hats off to Val in the office for giving this particular visitor access to the WiFi in the harbour office - which should also prompt the harbour to think about making WiFi available within the harbour area - these days a relatively cheap option and a real plus for visitors, service engineers and others wishing to be in contact with the outside world via the internet.

"Newlyn: the largest fishing port in the south coast of England, which contrasts with the wetting of Helford River left this morning and all the other ports of Devon and Cornwall who welcomed us. A working atmosphere, decor and rusty metal, nets, engine noise, big diesel exhaust smells and mechanical grease and of course "fish stock". The leisure boats, oddly, become part of this living picture without offending the eye.

We read in the Imray guide that the The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fisherman in which all who go to sea are welcome (sic) a hearty breakfast is served in their dining hall. So we tested. It is actually cheap and OK (as the French are reputed discerning breakfast eaters  - hat's off to Keith and the crew!) but the reception is mixed, not even a silly question like, "Are you French"?  - it is therefore so obvious that no one needs to even ask us any more?

And the Mission shower is 3 pounds (unthinkable) against 50p to use the only shower in the port where we seem to be more dirty than entering!  Good point: no WiFi on the harbour but the Secretary of the Harbour Office, without hesitation, offered us access to the Harbour Master's office for an hour and a half. Great class!

After a tour of the town (very quickly) and a little food, drink aboard Ithaca, boat and Gilles Agnès Frenchies of Ouistreham. Basically the stop in Newlyn has given us so to speak down to earth as it began to move into a nomadic too comfortable!