11:04

This morning the Guardian reports on British fishermen’s anxieties about direct action from France in the event of a no-deal Brexit: the fishing community is becoming increasingly concerned that blockades by French crew, angry at no longer being able to fish in UK waters, could leave their catch rotting at the border.

Rotten future: British fishermen square up to no-deal Brexit Read more

These concerns would seem to be bolstered by an interview with Olivier Leprêtre, a Boulogne trawler skipper who is vice-president of France’s CNPMEM fishermen’s committee. He says that French fishermen will have nothing to lose by taking action, warning: “Not a single kilo of seafood from Britain will be allowed into Europe.”

He tells the Fisker Forum, an online fishing news service for the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia:

If we are sacrificed to Brexit, then we have nothing left to lose. We will get rid of every British flagged vessel, regardless of its ownership. That’ll be hard luck for the opportunists.

It’s hard to gauge just how damaging direct action in France could be. Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, told the Guardian that he believed any protests would be short-lived, but Elaine Whyte, who represents smaller fishing operations on the Clyde, warned that she feared some would go to the wall if live catch was not able to make it to its EU destination.

