British Trawler seized by France amid fishing rights row

France has seized a British trawler and has found another one amidst its escalating row over the post- Brexit fishing rights. The French maritime minister Annick Girardin has said that they cautioned the shops during the checks off Lee Havre overnight.

She further said that the first one refused to comply, and the second one lacked the right to fish in the water of France. The environment secretary further said that he was investigating the situation for the detained vessels. While responding to the Urgent Commons Question from SNP, George Eustice said that the boat was on the list of the MMO that the European Union provided.

He further insisted that the EU did not grant a license to the vessel, which is still unclear why. Mr. Eustice said that he was waiting for more details from Marine Scotland. He was expecting a response in the next hour.

Deidre Brock, the environment spokesperson of SNP, said that the captain of the vessel was used in court after arrest for fishing without any license in French water. Ms. Girardin said that a British trawler was fishing at the bay of Seine without any license. She said that the bat was diverting toward the port of Le Havre. The judicial authority has detained it. The captain is also facing penal sanctions.

MacDuff Shellfish said that its fishing activity was legal, and the vessel was fishing legally in French waters. The firm said that it would defend itself against any of the claims. The boat was just another pawn in France’s ongoing fishing rope with the UK.

The other boat was facing fine for the resistance to initial checking. The minister says that the checks on the British vessel were standard, drawing the season of fishing.

France had warned that it would block the fishing rights of British boats for some ports and would tighten the checking on the boats and trucks. On Wednesday evening, it had issued an ultimatum for the post-Brexit dispute. It said that it would impose targeted measures on the fishing boats.

Mr. Eustice has rejected any of the French claims that the application ropes for a fishing license have been slow enough. He said that the officials had granted 98% of the post-Brexit license application from the European boats for fishing in UK waters.

The UK is maintaining a rejected application which has sparked that the row did not have enough proper evidence to show the history. Luke Pollard said that the tensions are a result of the government, i.e., losing control of the negotiations.

Credits: BBC