Tag Archives: scallop wars
Is Brexit about to rewrite the rules for fishing on the English Channel?
French fishermen are anxious to avoid a Brexit that could shut them out of British territorial waters, while in British ports, trawlermen hope such moves could reinvigorate their fishing industry. The “Scallop Wars” in August saw French boats attack British ones in the Seine Bay off the Normandy coast. Paris had banned French boats from scalloping in the area between May and October to preserve the stocks. So when British boats exercised their rights to go for them, a French flotilla mustered, hurling rocks and smoke bombs and ramming the UK trawlers. >click to read<10:52
Scallop wars barely over as new accusations from Cornish fishermen spark crab wars
The scallop wars are barely over but already new tensions have emerged in the English Channel in the form of crab wars. Cornish fishermen have accused French trawlers of deliberately sabotaging their crab pots, costing them hundreds of thousands of pounds. They said French trawlers had been seen in English waters towing nets “without a care in the world” within the UK’s 12-mile limit. Paul Trebilcock, chief executive of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation (CFPO), said: “They are just dragging through all the gear, they break the ropes, damage the pots or just tow them away altogether.” >click to read<11:13
Scallop wars: French fishermen pull plug on talks with UK rivals
French fishermen have broken off talks with British rivals for a new deal on access to scallop-rich waters in the English Channel, a long-simmering conflict that flared into a high-seas confrontation last month. Representatives from both sides had been meeting in London since last week to hammer out an accord that would stop smaller British boats from scooping up the prized mollusks outside the official fishing season. “It’s game over,” Hubert Carre, the head of France’s CNPMEM national fishing committee, told AFP. >click to read<10:30
The Scallop War: No Deal! UK and French fishermen fail to agree
British and French fishermen have failed to finalise a deal to end the “scallop wars” over fishing in the Channel, according to the French camp, despite reaching an agreement in principle earlier this week. “The fact is that there is no agreement because British claims [for compensation] were disproportionate … We have a blockage, but the discussions have not broken down,” said Hubert Carre, the director of the French national fishing committee, adding that it would now be up to the “two ministers to call each other to arrange a possible future meeting”. >click to read<20:36
UK, French fishermen strike deal in ‘Scallop Wars’
British and French fishermen reached an agreement on Wednesday in the so-called Scallop Wars over fishing in the Channel, following clashes at sea between rival boats. “We renewed the 2017 agreements,” Gerard Romiti, chairman of the French national committee on fishing, told AFP following a day of talks in London. Tensions boiled over last week when five British vessels sparred with dozens of French boats in the sensitive Seine Bay, with video footage showing fishermen from both sides ramming each other. >click to read<14:22
Tensions escalate in scallop wars as French fishermen venture into British waters to net 44 bluefin tuna
The battle between British and French fisherman escalated again today after Gallic trawlers grabbed a giant haul of bluefin tuna off Jersey that their UK rivals must throw back. Two boats based in Normandy caught 44 of the valuable protected fish while hunting for bream off the Channel Islands – adding to already simmering tensions between the two nations. The tuna, each weighing between 50kg and 120kg and worth more than £100,000 in total, were then brought ashore at Granville in France to be sold. British fishermen caught in the ‘Battle of the Scallops’ last week say the new development proves their French foes are hypocrites. >click to read<09:02
Scallop War – ‘Not the first time!’ Fisherman says French Navy ignored attacks on UK boats two years ago
Derek Meredith, the owner of two fishing boats caught in the shameless attack by French fishermen in the international waters between France and England, told BBC News this was the second time he had to defend himself at sea. Mr Meredith said he experienced the same attack by the hand of French fishermen two years ago, revealing the French Navy, present at the time of the attack, did not intervene to stop it from happening. He said: “Two years ago it happened to us but not as forceful as this time, I wouldn’t have said. >click to read<10:00
