French and British fishermen clashed over scallop-rich waters off northern France.
French and British fishermen clashed over scallop-rich waters off northern France.
An armada of British boats is planning to return to contentious waters off northern France on Monday in a show of defiance after "Scallop Wars" erupted this week.
Up to 40 scallop trawlers from Britain will re-enter the waters of Baie-de-Seine en masse in the hope that, with safety innumbers, they can continue to fish in France's waters.
The planned act of defiance came as French fishermen discussed arming themselves with catapults and other weapons following clashes off the coast of Normandy on Tuesday in which French and British vessels rammed into each other and fishermen shouted insults and threw objects at each other as marine flares hurtled through the air.
One trainee fisherman from Ver-sur-Mer in Normandy suggested online that crews should "get out the guns" should the British fishermen return.
"The war isn't finished. They're going to come back with more boats, we'll have to get out the heavy artillery," said Pierre Sophie in one online exchange.
Anthony Quesnel, skipper of the Rose des Vents, a French trawler involved in the skirmishes, said the attack was "worth it" as they managed to chase off the British boats and prevent them dredging scallops. "We may have won a battle but we haven't won the war," he added.
The battle is over scallop-rich waters off France's northern coast.
French law prevents French boats from fishing for scallops during the summer months before October 1, to help preserve the stocks, French maritime official Ingrid Parrot said.
But British ships can still fish for the prized delicacies in international waters off the French coast. That makes French crews "feel that the resources are being pillaged, when they are preserving them", Parrot said.
In previous years, the two sides struck deals to limit the scope of British scallop fishing off French waters but haven't managed to do so this year, she said.
More talks were expected this month.
Footage shows boats colliding during this week's clashes.
"If we let them do what they want, they'll ravage the area," Quesnel said.
Mike Hookem, a member of the European Parliament and the Ukip party's fisheries spokesman, said a number of British fishermen had asked the Royal Navy to intervene.
"If action is not taken quickly, someone is going to be killed," he said.
Skipper Brian Whittington is among the British fishermen planning for another confrontation.
"We'll go over there with the big boats this time and stick together," he said. "I heard the French won't do it again, but I don't believe it. They'll do anything."
Another British fisherman, Derek Meredith, said he "wouldn't be averse to heavy-handed tactics". "I'm not going to be bullied out of something that is legal. It's not piracy, because nothing was stolen."
He said Britain should withdraw from European fishing agreements ahead of Brexit and force the British and French to stay in their own waters.
"They should kick them out now, do Brexit early, see how they feel then," he said. "Let them stay on their side and we'll stay on ours. Give us all our quota back and they'll go bust."
