A British trawler impounded in France amid political tensions over post-Brexit fishing rights has now returned to the UK.
The Scottish-registered scallop dredger Cornelis-Gert Jan left Le Havre’s port yesterday evening after French authorities held it last week alleging they had been illegally fishing in their waters without the right paperwork.
The red, white, and blue trawler departed the quayside after dusk and docked at Shoreham-by-Sea, near Brighton, at 4.46am today.
The ruling came after the boat’s captain, Jondy Ward, appeared at the Court of Appeal in Rouen earlier on Wednesday.
Mr Ward said French maritime police detained the trawler last week for not being on a European register when it was fishing off the Normandy coast.
‘We had everything in order on the bridge, as far as I was concerned we had everything in place to be legal,’ he said.
The comments were echoed by his lawyer, Mathieu Croix, who told reporters outside the courtroom: ‘We’re clearly caught in a political game.’
Andrew Brown, the public affairs director of the vessel’s owner Macduff Shellfish, said: ‘The court determined that no bond was required for the release of the vessel.’
He added: ‘The crew have acted with calmness and professionalism throughout the entire incident.
‘They are in good spirits, looking forward to return to their loved ones and are grateful for all the messages of support received from the British public.’
French and British ministers have met to try and resolve the issue over fishing licenses, with talks continuing but no breakthrough yet.
Earlier this week, France threatened to block British boats and make customs checks stricter over what they see is a refusal to give licences to its trawlers to operate in UK waters.
President Emmanuel Macron took back a threat to do this from Tuesday while talks continue, but has delayed punitive measures while the talks between the UK, France and the European Commission continue, but the measures could include a ban on British trawlers landing their catches in French ports and tighter customs checks if a deal cannot be reached.
The UK Government insisted most applications for licences have been granted.
The main dispute between the UK and European Union is over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements.
Lord Frost will head to Brussels tomorrow to meet European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic.
French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday: ‘We are just waiting for one thing: for the UK to respect the deal that they signed.’
Under the Brexit deal, European Union boats which fished in British waters in four of the years from 2012 to 2016 can apply for a licence.
The UK government has received 1,831 applications and given out 1,793 licenses. However, only 19 licences have been issued from 50 applications for small French vessels.
Talks are continuing between the UK and EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol, the part of the Brexit deal which avoided a hard border with Ireland.
The deal effectively means Northern Ireland is inside the EU’s single market for goods, meaning there must be some checks for products crossing the Irish Sea from Great Britain, which left the single market.
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