PARIS - A blockade of Channel ports by French fishermen angry at EU quotas cut ferry links with Britain for a third day Thursday despite a court order to end the protest and a French government offer of funds.

There were fears the Channel Tunnel could be blocked in support of the movement, after fishermen's representatives expressed disappointment following a meeting late Wednesday with Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Michel Barnier in Paris.

Barnier announced four million euros ($7.96 million) in aid to fishermen in the north of France, but no changes to EU quotas, after four hours of talks.

The minister told a press conference that the funds, to be made available by June 30, would cover a temporary halt to fishing in the zone by boats nearing the limits of their quotas.

While European Union fishing quotas would not be changed in 2009, as the European Commission was opposed, Barnier said he would be holding a meeting "in a fortnight" with EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg.

Barnier added, however, that a court-ordered lifting of the blockade of the busy Channel ferry ports of Calais and Boulogne was "the responsibility of the fishermen" themselves.

He also announced loans of up to 50 million euros that would be made available to indebted fishing companies.

A French court ordered the fishing fleets to lift their blockade of Boulogne and Calais or face heavy fines for each hour of lost business for the ports, according to a lawyer acting for French and British ferry companies. Union leaders, however, vowed to defy the ruling and maintain the protest.

Some 500 independent fishermen, who say their livelihood is under threat from European Union limits on their catch, have stopped ships entering or leaving Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk since Tuesday.

The 100-strong flotilla halted all cross-Channel ferry and freight traffic, with port and transport authorities urging car and truck drivers to delay their journey or choose an alternative route.

But there were threats of more serious disruption as workers at French ferry company SeaFrance threatened to block access to the Channel Tunnel out of solidarity with the fishermen.

'If they reach no deal with the government and if the port is still blockaded, we'll go and block the tunnel on Thursday morning, until there is a deal,' said a CFDT union leader at the firm, Eric Verckourtre.

British ferry operator P and O said it planned to seek compensation from French authorities over business lost due to the blockade - which it said was costing it a million pounds ($2.24 million) a day.

A lawyer for P and O and its French counterpart LD Lines filed a suit before a court in Boulogne, which ordered the fishermen to lift their siege.

Lawyer Gerard Barron said the fishermen would be fined 1,000 euros per hour per ship in the case of Calais and 5,000 euros per ship per hour in Boulogne until they end their siege.

P and O said it cleared a backlog of around 3,000 passengers stuck in Dover and Calais early Wednesday, then the protest was briefly lifted due to rough weather, allowing some ferries to cross to and from Dover.

But the protest continued to cause major disruption in Kent in southern England, where police were directing trucks to park on the hard shoulder of the main highway from London to Dover to ease congestion.

Calais, Dunkirk and Boulogne are separated from England by the 34km Straits of Dover, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Local fishermen, many of whom have already exceeded their quota for cod and sole for the first six months of 2009, are pushing for a review of the EU limits, which they claim are forcing them out of work.

Both Paris and the European Union have ruled out any renegotiation, pointing out that French cod quotas have already been boosted 30 per cent since 2008.

The EU policy of limiting the size of fishing catches aims to stop stocks being wiped out through over-fishing. But the fishermen accuse Brussels of seeking to destroy small-scale fishing operations by setting unrealistic quotas.