LONDON (AP) — Vessels from Britain’s Royal Navy and French police boats are patrolling near the English Channel island of Jersey as French fishermen angry about losing access to its waters gathered for a maritime protest. The irate mariners set off flares and entered the island’s main harbor on Thursday in the first major dispute between France and Britain over fishing rights in the wake of Brexit. The European Union appealed for calm. French maritime authorities say the naval policing boats were sent to keep watch on waters between France and Jersey. The deployment came after Britain on Wednesday directed two naval vessels to also patrol the waters around the island, a self-governing British Crown Dependency.
