Brussels warned Royal Navy warships will be used to protect UK waters from EU fishing ships

Britain’s fishing minister, George Eustice has warned Brussels the UK has taken ‘sufficient’ steps to protect its waters.

It comes as fears over a French blockade, which could bar British ships from key ports like Calais, continue to grow.

The Royal Navy boasts three extra vessels, the Home Office will provide a further four and the government can call in help from the private sector, Mr Eustice said.

Meanwhile, a new control centre has been set up, 50 extra fishery protection officers have been recruited and there will be ‘aerial surveillance’, a House of Lords inquiry was told.

‘We have significantly increased our enforcement capability,’ Mr Eustice said, adding: ‘We think that is sufficient.’

The move was set out amid a row over fishing access for EU boats following Brexit.

Brussels has demanded an agreement between the UK and EU is made by the end of June.

Earlier this week, ministers were reportedly warned of a ‘nightmare’ scenario, where French fishermen blockade ports and paralyse cross-Channel trade.

Whitehall officials said there was a ‘very realistic chance’ French ports could be sealed off to UK trade, with Calais highlighted as particularly at risk.

The warning following prime minister Boris Johnson’s vow to bar EU fishing vessels from British waters unless a trade agreement was reached.

Any fallout could spark a fresh fishing war.

Ministers have been told even a small-scale protest could severely impact the nation’s economy.

About 17 per cent of the UK’s trade in goods, worth more than £100bn a year, passed between Dover and Calais.

‘We are uniquely vulnerable when it comes to moving goods across the short straits,’ one Whitehall source previously told The Times. ‘In the event of the blockade there is very little we could do. It would all be up to the French government.’

In January, Admiral Lord Alan West – the former head of the navy – warned Britain did not have ‘sufficient’ ships to prevent EU fishermen from encroaching into British waters.