UK, French fishermen hit by dispute over rights

As a spat over fishing rights between Britain and France drags on, businesses on both sides are feeling the damaging effects. Before Brexit, French fishermen could fish deep inside British waters.

Now they need to be granted a special license from the British government or the self-governing British Crown dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey to fish in certain areas. France has threatened to block British boats from some of its ports and tighten checks on vessels and trucks carrying British goods if more French vessels aren't licensed to fish in U.K. waters soon.

Fishing is a tiny industry economically, but one that looms large symbolically for both Britain and France. Britain contends that it has granted 98% of applications from EU vessels — and now the dispute concerns just a few dozen French boats with insufficient paperwork.