Clotaire Achi and Layli Foroudi

ROUEN, France (Reuters] – The French impounded a British fishing trawler by French authorities as part of a wider political struggle between Paris and London over post Brexit fishing rules. A lawyer for the vessel’s captain stated Wednesday.

In Rouen, north-western France, a court will decide whether Jondy, an Irish captain, should make a deposit of 150,000 Euro ($174,000), to get the boat freed from French authorities who claimed that he was not licensed to fish in French waters.

Mathieu Crix, Mathieu’s lawyer said that “he is clearly in the middle a political play.”

France wanted the deposit, he claimed. The value of the shipment of scallops aboard the Cornelis Gert Jan was around 5,000 euro.

“COMPLETELY DIPROPORTIONATE”

According to him, the figure was exaggerated in an effort to make an impression given the row over fishing licenses that Britain has had since it left the European Union.

According to the lawyer, “It took on another dimension within the current context which has taken on an entirely disproportionate meaning.”

This would enable the vessel to be freed up until a court case in January next year. Later Wednesday will see the Rouen court decide if the deposit should be allowed to stand. Macduff Shellfish from Scotland claimed that the vessel was licensed.

France and Britain were at the edge of a cross-Channel war this week. Britain claimed that France was refusing French fishing licenses. This is despite being entitled to them under a post Brexit agreement.

Britain claimed it would honor the agreement and accused France for exacerbating the matter. Paris had previously threatened to tighten controls on British trucks and produce entering Britain as well as to ban British trawlers from French ports.

France pulled back in the end and says that it is going to try again to reach a compromise with Britain.

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