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THEY are just a few miles apart and share a common culture and a common heritage - but the Channel islands of Jersey and Guernsey look like they could fall out over fishing rights.
Fishermen in Jersey claim they are being left out of a new fishing management agreement that the neighbouring island of Guernsey has signed with the United Kingdom.
The deal gives Guernsey certain rights within its territorial waters and follows a similar agreement with another Channel island - that of Sark.
The Jersey fishermen are worried that they will eventually be denied licences and therefore fishing rights under the new agreement. They have said they will take their protest to St Peter Port, the Guernsey capital unless there is a fair settlement.
Don Thompson, who is president of the Jersey Fishermen's Association, said that while he supported Guernsey's rights, the agreement was eroding the long held rights of his members, who have been "fishing there legitimately for decades".
Although the Channel Islands are often seen by people on the UK mainland as a single group, they are in fact quite separate in the way they run their affairs and have separate "governments" or bailiwicks. And while they are British they are not in the strict sense part of the United Kingdom.
Guernsey currently has a three-mile limit which may be extended to 12 miles under the deal with the UK.
Fishermen from the two islands yesterday held talks over the new regulations which both sides described as positive. Further talks will be held in the coming weeks, but tensions remain.
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