Fishermen fear turbulent times ahead after Brexit
SCOTS fishermen have warned of “turbulent” times ahead after dramatic footage emerged showing boats clashing on the English Channel.
Rocks, smoke bombs and other projectiles were allegedly hurled at English and Scottish vessels during the confrontation in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Around a dozen British vessels were targeted by a French flotilla in a protest over fishing rights in the scallop-rich waters.
Mike Park of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association accused the rival fleet of “bullying” British mariners.
He warned such clashes could become more common after the UK leaves the European Union.
He said: “We have had some French fishermen saying today that come Brexit, we will just throw you out. If that’s the case, we won’t allow them access to our waters.”
Prime Minister Theresa May has called for an “amiable solution” to the row, while the Scottish Government urged “calm and dialogue”.
UK officials said they had contacted their counterparts in France, arguing the vessels were “legally entitled” to fish in the area.
The long-running dispute centres on a section of the Channel from which French fishermen cannot harvest scallops until later in the year, due to domestic environmental laws.
Mr Park said most of the scallop-rich waters are in EU territory – potentially paving the way for future clashes after Brexit. He said there was the “potential for situations like this to flare up” in the future, adding: “We can foresee turbulent times ahead.”
But he also insisted: “One would hope, moving forward, that we could use Brexit to establish more formal arrangements.”
He said a meeting is scheduled in Paris today, with fishing representatives from both sides set to get round the table. Around 40 French boats were said to be responsible for the disruption.
Mr Portus said one of the British ships, The Golden Promise, had a window smashed by a can, while another suffered fire damage after a flare was thrown at it. He claimed to have received a message from the chief negotiator of the French scallop industry yesterday morning that said: “I regret the altercations that occurred... it will not happen again.”
Maritime authorities in France also sought to soothe tensions, decrying the showdown as “very dangerous” and expressing hope that “things will calm down”.
Dramatic footage broadcast by France 3 Normandie showed boats colliding as tensions finally boiled over.
Dimitri Rogoff, head of a Normandy fishermen’s association, said the violent scenes “demonstrate the exasperation of Normandy fishermen in a situation which persists and does not change”.
Bertie Armstrong, of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said: “This is a time for calm, for rational discussion and peaceful resolution, not conflict at sea”.