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Trawlermen from northern France are preparing to blockade the port of Calais to prevent any fish and seafood travelling from Britain to the Continent unless Boris Johnson grants European Union fishermen access to the country’s waters. Such a protest will likely have a detrimental effect on all goods passing between the hugely busy Dover and Calais shipping route. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, EU fisherman will be instantly blocked from British waters, unless the Government decides to grant them access.

Ministers have pledged to use Britain’s EU divorce as an opportunity to reclaim control of the country’s territorial waters and have rejected linking fishing rights to a future trade deal with Brussels. This has infuriated the regional fisheries committee in Northern France, who are behind the threats to blockade Calais. Its chairman Olivier Lepretre said: “If there is a hard Brexit, I can assure you that not a single kilo of seafood or fish from Britain will get into France. “We would set up barricades. All the fishermen along the northern French coast will tell you the same thing.”

President Emmanuel Macron has previously suggested French fishing rights were protected

Fishing boats from northern France are plotting to bring Calais to a standstill to stop UK traffic

Under the EU’s rules, foreign fishing boats are granted up to 70 percent of the quotas for ground stocks in British waters. Britain currently exports around 75 percent of its catch overseas, of which 75 percent goes is sold on the EU’s market. Mr Lepretre bemoaned that foreign fishermen if blocked from British waters after Brexit wouldn’t simply target French stocks instead. He said: “We will find Belgian, Dutch and Spanish boats crammed into French waters." READ MORE: Brexit LIVE: Brexit scaremongering ‘UNJUSTIFIED’ says Ex-Trump adviser

Boris Johnson had pledged to regain control of UK waters in no-deal Brexit

The fishing boss said while British boats would be banned from French waters “we must not get into a situation where we are killing each other”. “Every fisherman in Europe is fed up with the common fisheries policy,” he added, while showing sympathy for British fishermen’s support from Brexit. French fishermen have previously use their boats to blockade Calais, bringing the busy port to a standstill, in a protest over electric pulse fishing in the North Sea. French agriculture minister Didier Guillaume recently last month said: “There is no scenario in which French fishermen should be prevented, could be prevented, would be prevented by Boris Johnson from fishing in British waters. DON'T MISS

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French fisherman have previously blockaded Calais in protest as electric pulse fishing

Any Calais protest will delay or prevent UK exports from Dover to the Continent

“So I will keep telling Britain our fishermen must be allowed to keep fishing in its waters. “What matters in a Brexit without an agreement is the impact on fishing and French fishermen. I really want to fight. Our fishermen must be able to continue to go to British waters.” French President Emmanuel Macron has previously suggested that a reciprocal fisheries agreement would be a condition for the EU signing a future trade deal with Britain. After EU leaders sat down last November to agree Theresa May's withdrawal agreement, he said the Northern Ireland backstop could be used as a "lever" to guarantee access to British waters. He said: "It is a lever because it is in our mutual interest to have this future relationship. "I can't imagine that the desire of Theresa May or her supporters is to remain for the long term in a customs union, but instead to define a proper future relationship that resolves this problem." Robert Rowland, Brexit Party MEP for the South East, told Express.co.uk: "We would expect that Mr Macron would do his duty under international law and keep his fleet under control. He seems to have plenty of police on the streets to do his bidding, so I’m sure he has plenty who can control the fishermen. "However, the UK Government must prepare for this threat from a so-called friendly neighbour. "When we leave the EU and the iniquitous CFP, fisheries protection and the coast guard must be put on high alert and be prepared to act to ensure our own fishermen are protected and safe passage of goods and passengers in the busiest stretch of waters in the world.”

Countries expected to be hardest hit by a no-deal Brexit

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs officials have insisted that Brexit gives the Government the opportunity to gain control of who accesses British waters. Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, who is chair of the European Parliament’s fisheries committee, has urged both sides to avoid any hostilities. He said: “The UK fishing fleet is the second largest in Europe and the most profitable, but there will be no winners if the existing arrangements collapse. “Hostility will only lead to retaliation on both sides, trade disruption and the poisoning of future relations. “British is against our national interest. Changes in fisheries policy need to be secured through negotiation and the number on priority must be to build up fish stocks for everyone’s benefit.” A Fishing for Leave spokesman said: "French threats of belligerent criminality of blockades to force surrender on access to British waters don't worry British fishermen and shouldn't be heeded by the Government. "The simple fact is this – the EU fleet has pillaged 60 percent of the resources from British waters and built an industry on the back of this free lunch, one which went against all international normality. "A clean Brexit where Britain automatically takes back control and exercises exclusive sovereignty over all our waters under international law means all EU vessels automatically have no right to fish in our waters - resulting in EU markets needing British seafood exports more than ever." They added: "The British government must not be seen to meekly cower at such belligerence and EU seafood businesses and a hungry population in struggling Eurozone countries cannot afford it either. "The French fishermen need to get their head round that the free lunch is over. In a manner no different to Grimsby and Hull when Norway and Iceland took control of their waters during the Cod Wars of the 1970s. "The Government must not wimp out – this is a perfect opportunity for Boris Johnson to prove his Churchillian mettle. Fishing mustn't be traded as the Prime Minister promised and he will be judged by his own words that this would be 'reprehensible'.

British fisherman support a no-deal Brexit

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