GUERNSEY must match any fuel subsidy French fishermen get if it wants the industry to survive, says a veteran local skipper.  Blockades were yesterday still preventing local fishermen landing their catches in French ports.

Fishermen there have taken the action to back their demand for state aid to meet the escalating price of fuel. Dougal Lane (pictured) has stopped fishing in his boat, Copious, until the situation is resolved. A skipper for 30 years, he said there was no point with no means of export.

But he backed the protesting fishermen. ‘They have to do what they have to do,’ said the former president of the Guernsey Fishermen’s Association. ‘I’m totally in support.’ Mr Lane said that if the French, who have blocked harbours with cables and large trawlers, were given subsidies, Guernsey’s fishermen would need them as well in order to compete.

‘If other fishermen are getting subsidies, we are at a disadvantage. The high cost of fuel affects us too. If that happens, then the States will have to act if they still want a fishing industry here.’