The 2018 Anglo-French Scallop Wars

The background
The UK and France have fished for scallops in the Bay of Seine, 12 miles of the coast of Normandy. 3 Scottish and 2 English heavy fishing boats ran into conflict with 35-40 heavy and light French fishing boats. The French love their coquilles St-Jacques, or Normandy scallops, and the English also like scallops. France, the UK, Belgium and Ireland all fish for scallops thire.

The law says
France restricted the fishing season to between 1 October and 15 May and outside a 12 mile exclusion zone off the coast to maximise scallop breeding. British boats could come at any time of the year, but chose not to in since 2013. The larger boats have also stayed out the area in exchange for more fishing rights for smaller boats by both sides.

Anger has grown over the last 15 years, as have catches. Over the last 5 years the UK has respected this, but the UK renounced the deal in 2018, which the French had already independently canceled earlier that year. UK fishermen then assumed that this gave them to fish it out (AKA-fatally over fish it).

Shellfish stocks.
A 2016 report by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) warned that the level of fishing was "too high" in the Bay of Seine.

The ecanomic value

 * 1) The UK scallop industry is worth £120m.
 * 2) It supports 1,350 jobs.
 * 3) About 60% of the catch is exported, mostly to the French.

But the UK's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (UK) said that, in total, the French fleets make far more money from catches in UK waters than UK fleets did in French waters.

Brexit
After Brexit, the zone would go entirely over to French fishermen, but the UK illegally wants it to be part of UK territorial waters.

Past crimes
In December 2016 the Honeybourne III’s master, a Mr Poland, and Macduff Fishing Fleet were found guilty of and also admitted the breaching fishing regulations after undersized shellfish were uncovered by authorities during a search in Shoreham, West Sussex, on the behalf of the Marine Management Organisation (MMO). Some 2.65 metric tonnes of scallops in the boat’s hold were found to be under the legally prescribed size of 110mm. It was created to protect younger scallops.

The company was fined £16,409 and ordered to pay £3,567 in legal costs at Worthing Magistrates’ Court. The boat’s master was fined £1,400 and ordered to pay £150 in costs at Worthing Magistrates’ Court.

At the time the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), which brought the prosecution, said:-
 * “The impact on the stocks is potentially considerable. By taking this enforcement action the MMO has acted to help ensure that this vessel was not able to profit from retaining and landing undersized fish.”

The Macduff Fishing Fleet is part of Macduff Shellfish, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Canadian company Clearwater Seafoods. It was acquired it in a £98.4m business deal in 2015.

The clashes
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Myths and spin

 * The British did not herl a huge number cans of Red Bull at the French.
 * A shotgun ws not fired at the British by the French.

Responses
The British government unconditional backed the UK fishermen. British fishermen called for the navy to sink any rivals to thire next and bigger fishing fleet.

The UK news papers condemned the French for not unconditionally submit to the British fleet, and bayed for war with France.

A spokesman for the South East Fish Producers' Organisation denied the scallops were in dangerously low numbers.

The EU called for peace talks.

The international environmental group ClientEarth said it was "disappointing" to see the fishing boats catching scallops during the spawning season, when the reportedly depleted stocks could reproduce and grow.

Marc Delahaye from the Normandy Fishing Committee said their organisation objected to the British using "great dredgers" in the area, while the French used smaller and mostly wooden hulled fishing boats.

Mike Park, chief executive of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, called the clash "high seas piracy", but said the French had agreed to a request for peace talks.

Macduff Shellfish announced it would partner with the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers to host a scallop management conference in the UK during February 2019.

The aftermath
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