GUERNSEY’S territorial waters are set to be extended. The UK Government has agreed that the island should control from three to 12 miles offshore.
The fishing industry now looks set for long-term prosperity because the island will have the power to license boats fishing off its coast.
Sark and Alderney would also see their territorial waters extended by the same amount, but the islands must agree on how the area will be controlled before the UK will grant the extension.
Chief Minister Mike Torode has met Chief Pleas and Alderney States members and said talks went well.
‘The British Government is now saying that it thinks it is appropriate that the Bailiwick has a 12-mile territorial sea,’ he said.
‘But they have said that Guernsey, Sark and Alderney must all be in agreement as to how this limit will be administered and policed.’
The islands have always had control out to three miles and, in 2003, the UK Government agreed to allow the Bailiwick to issue fishing licences for the three-to-12-mile zone - as long as Guernsey and Jersey came to an agreement that would allow fishermen from each island to use the other’s waters.
Guernsey could not reach an agreement with Jersey and decided to create an ordinance, in conjunction with Sark and Alderney, which allowed it to issue licences from three to 12 miles.
That resulted in a four-year legal battle, which the island eventually lost last May, over whether the States actually had had the power to make the law.
Since then, the sea fisheries department has been negotiating.
‘We have been in deep discussions with the Ministry of Justice and Defra and this is an example of our relationship with the British Government working well,’ added Deputy Torode.
Sark residents recently handed a petition to Chief Pleas about the possible extension because of fears that Guernsey would legislate for the rest of the Bailiwick.
But Richard Nash, director of client services at Commerce and Employment, said the fisheries management agreement proposed was similar to the document signed by the islands when they last issued licences from three to 12 miles.
‘We expect the agreements the islands will sign will be similar to the ones we all signed in 2003,’ he said.
‘What we have to do is agree and if Sark and Alderney do, we can then go back to London and discuss a fisheries management agreement between the Bailiwick and the UK.’
Senior sea fisheries officer Jon Torode said: ‘They are British waters and will not be granted to the islands without the UK Government retaining some control. This is exactly the same as has happened in Jersey and the Isle of Man.
‘Part of the agreement is that any legislation brought in for the extended waters must be approved by the Secretary of State.’
Mr Torode added that the UK had said the three islands must be extended together or not at all.
‘We are not talking about taking any control away from Sark or Alderney. In fact, they are going to have greater control because they will still control their three miles, as they do now, but they are also gaining control in the extended area.’
Mr Nash added that the department hoped to have the territorial seas extended within the next 12 months.
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