The UK has withdrawn its Royal Navy vessels from the waters off Jersey but says it will remain on standby to support the Channel island after a dispute with France over post-Brexit fishing rights escalated rapidly.
France and the UK both deployed maritime patrol vessels to the area after a flotilla of French trawlers sailed in protest to Jersey's main harbour and a French minister suggested earlier in the week that the country might cut electricity to the island.
French fishermen say they are being unfairly deprived of access to rich fishing grounds off the coast of Jersey, a self-governing British Crown Dependency.
Jersey says it is following the rules for issuing licences set out in the UK's post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union.
The UK said it backed Jersey while the EU called for calm.
After the French fishing boats left the area, the British government said its Royal Navy Offshore Patrol Vessels would prepare to return to port in the UK as the "situation is resolved for now".
"We are pleased that French fishing boats have now left the vicinity of Jersey," a spokeswoman for the government said.
"We remain on standby to provide any further assistance Jersey requests."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who led the 2016 Brexit campaign, had cast the trade deal as a way to take back control of the United Kingdom's destiny after Brexit.
On Thursday, he had said the two vessels would remain off Jersey as a precautionary measure, according to his office.
An official from the French presidency said the deployment of patrol vessels from both France and the UK was aimed at preventing clashes between trawlers on opposing sides of the row.
France is angry that on April 30 Jersey issued 41 licences with what the Paris government called unilaterally imposed conditions, including the time French fishing vessels could spend in Jersey's waters.
Australian Associated Press
