French boats protest off Jersey over post-Brexit fishing rights

France’s fishing fleet has descended on Jersey, after threatening to blockade the port of St Helier amid a post-Brexit fishing dispute with the Channel Island.

At just before 7am on Thursday, a flotilla of around 70 vessels was heading to the mouth of the port, according to the BBC.

Despite calling for an urgent need for de-escalation on Wednesday, the British government sent two Royal Navy vessels to Jersey, with HMS Severn and HMS Tamar now on hand to “monitor the situation”.

This comes after the French maritime minister warned on Tuesday that Paris could take “retaliatory measures” over the dispute, including potentially cutting off the island’s electricity.