‘Small boats need our help’

Delayed elections are also on the horizon.

President of the association, Barry Paint, said there had been a meeting scheduled for earlier this year, however the coronavirus put paid to it going ahead.

‘Because of the problems with French fishermen early this year and the Brexit problems regarding the UK, I called a meeting of the association around the beginning of March this year,’ he said.

‘I thought it would be wise to call a full meeting of the association this year because of [this].

‘The reason was that having been president for some time it was only correct that I could put myself back up for re-election and also give the members [a chance] either to elect me or anyone else they may want to lead them through the two major crises that they are facing at the moment.

‘Then along came the coronavirus and I was asked to postpone the general meeting of the GFA until a later date, which hopefully will happen shortly.’

He said previous to that there had been no call for a full meeting of the GFA, because the few problems the association encountered could be sorted by the committee efficiently.

However, there are now several issues, one being the inability of some Guernsey fishermen to use the French market as they had previously.

Although fishing vessels are able to land their catches in the UK, France and Jersey without being subject to quarantine rules if they successfully apply to Guernsey Harbours, some are still finding it difficult.

This is something Mr Paint said the committee were in dialogue about.

‘Recently we have been looking and talking about transporting local fish to France by other means,’ added Mr Paint, who is also a States deputy.

‘The main problem is that smaller boats cannot take their fish to French markets and, of course, there is no freight service being carried out to and from France at the moment.

‘Two other deputies and myself, several civil servants and officials have had two remote meetings on this subject.

‘Last week we had another remote meeting with French officials and discussed many aspects of this in the near future.

‘Local small boats have had a great deal of difficulty selling the fish they catch because all restaurants and some other outlets have not opened because of this coronavirus.’

So far, 34 applications have been approved for Guernsey and Alderney vessels, which means crews do not have to self-isolate when they return to the Bailiwick.

During their voyages the crews do not leave vessels or have any physical contact with those ashore.

Currently, alongside Mr Paint as president, the GFA committee consists of Michael Guille, Peter Le Cheminant, Steve Fallaize, Douglas Lane, Paul Falla and Peter Munro.

The GFA has about 30 members and several more associated members.