By Ben Kerrigan-
A British trawler has been seized by France and another has been fined, following an escalating row over post-Brexit fishing rights.
French maritime minister Annick Girardin said the ships were cautioned during checks off Le Havre overnight.
She explained that the first did not comply right away and the second was not allowed to fish in French waters so was detained.
France has been incensed by a decision from the UK and Jersey last month to deny fishing licences to dozens of French boats, insisting that it breached the Brexit deal.
France had warned that it would block British boats from some ports next week – as well as tightening checks on UK boats and trucks – if a post-Brexit dispute over fishing licences was not resolved by 2 November.ted outside the port of St Helier in Jersey, a British Crown dependency, with France threatening to cut off Jersey’s electricity supplies in retaliation.
A spokeswoman for the UK government said it was “urgently” looking into reports of French enforcement activity.
Brexit Minister Lord Frost on Wednesday described French threats to block UK boats from ports were disappointin
MacDuff Shellfish said its fishing activity was “entirely legal” and the vessel was “legally fishing for scallop” in French waters when it was detained by the authorities.
The firm said it would defend itself against any claims and that its boat was just “another pawn” in the ongoing France-UK fishing row and urged the UK government to “defend the rights of the UK fishing fleet”.
Meanwhile, the other boat was fined for initially resisting the check, Ms Girardin added.
The minister said checks on the British vessels were standard during the scallop fishing season and had also been undertaken against “the backdrop of the tightening of controls in the Channel, in the context of discussions on licenses with the United Kingdom and the European Commission”.
Deidre Brock, the SNP’s environment spokesperson, will ask an Urgent Question in the House of Commons at 10:30 BST.
She will ask Environment Secretary George Eustice “if he will make a statement on how the UK will work with French officials to mitigate a trading dispute”.
Barrie Deas, of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, said a “tit for tat” relationship between the UK and France was “unhelpful”.