HMS Severn joins sister ship Tamar at Portsmouth after gunboats saw off angry French skippers amid row over post-Brexit fishing rules
HMS Severn sailed back to Portsmouth this morning after seeing off French fishermen off the coast of Jersey
The Royal Navy River-class offshore patrol vessel was scrambled amid a standoff with French skippers
About 70 French trawlers staged a protest at Jersey s capital St Helier, before beating a retreat
The quarrel began after some French boats were refused licences to fish in Jersey s waters post-Brexit
Jersey fishermen today started giving away their lobster hauls for free as the dispute over fishing rights with France escalated.
France issued a legal notice to British fishermen last night that they were no longer welcome into French ports after one Jersey boat was threatened with violence and turned back.
Fishermen at St Helier Port, which was blockaded by French rivals this week, said they had been left in a vicious cycle due to the dispute.
Gary Maranet, 33, skipper of a 26-foot boat, began emptying his lobster pots and giving the expensive fish away to the public.
He said: ‘Jersey fishermen like me are stuck and in a dead end.
HMS Tamar returned home to Portsmouth following her deployment to Jersey amid tensions with France
Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron will try to restore brotherly relationship amid post-Brexit chaos
Furious French skippers threatened to block British goods from entering Calais over fishing rights
About 70 French trawlers protested at St Helier but gave up the blockade when two Royal Navy ships arrived