Scallop wars 2018 kicks off with French fishermen attacking UK fishermen...

[Davie Tait]

'NOT the first time!' Fisherman says French Navy IGNORED attacks on UK boats two years ago

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/10...h-boats-latest

[Davie Tait]

Scallop row: UK and French talks to take place next week

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45354433

[Davie Tait]

Gove backs UK scallop fishermen who clashed with French rivals

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...P=share_btn_tw

[Davie Tait]

French fishermen’s organisation regrets lack of agreement on scallops

http://fiskerforum.dk/en/news/b/fren...nt-on-scallops


Agreement has not been reached this year between the UK and France on access to scallop grounds and day sat sea

According to French fishing industry body CNPMEM, the French industry has made efforts to maintain sustainable and efficient management of scallops in the Baie de Seine, the area where a skirmish between French and UK fishing vessels erupted earlier this week.

The French fleet is limited to fishing from 1st October to 15th May, with further restrictions on fishing gears, fishing days and daily quotas.

‘The annual closure helps preserve the stock based on reproduction periods, peak growth and the recruitment of new cohorts which occur between spring and the end of summer, but for socio-economic reasons. The scallop market is mainly focused on the end of the year,’ a CNPMEM spokesman said.

‘CNPMEM regrets that for years, British fishermen have persisted in not wanting to fully respect these sustainable management measures that the French are proposing to adopt, refusing to include in agreements vessels of less than 15 metres and refusing to require a 92mm ring size. Since 2010, these agreements have made it possible to regulate, in exchange for fishing effort, the gradual opening of fishing areas.’

CNPMEM points out that agreements refer only to UK vessels over 15 metres, as smaller scallopers are not subject to kW/days, vessels that CNPMEM described as ‘being able to loot the area.’

‘While the proposal to impose 92mm rings on foreign vessels could be considered as subject to negotiation, the condition was to apply the agreement to all vessels regardless of size. Unfortunately, UK fishermen have rejected proposals for joint management of the area, arguing their right to fish rather than demonstrating a desire to sustainably manage the scallop stock,’ CNPMEM states.

‘It has not been possible to reach agreements for Baie de Seine this year and the exchange of fishing effort to the of the UK has not taken place. CNPMEM stands with the fishermen of Normandy and asks the French administration to quickly arrange a meeting between French and British fishermen’s representatives in order to find sustainable solutions leading to good management of resources,’ the French spokesman said.

Source: CNPMEM

[Davie Tait]

Tensions escalate in scallop wars row after French fishermen venture into British waters to net 44 bluefin tuna their UK rivals are BANNED from catching

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...efin-tuna.html

French warship chases fishermen from scallop bay

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/f...-bay-zfx9t8xjz

[Davie Tait]

Scallop clashes highlight bigger picture

http://fiskerforum.dk/en/news/b/scal...bigger-picture

According to the NFFO, the recent clashes in the Channel between UK and French fishing vessels over scallop grounds highlight a number of important issues; primarily that whatever the rights and wrongs of disputes over fishing rights, it is never admissible to resort to intimidation and violence.

‘There have been many fishing disputes in the past and doubtless there will be many in the future. The correct place to resolve these is around the table, not on the high seas using flares, bottles stones and shackles to intimidate crews. Our vessels were forced to withdraw from the disputed area as skippers feared for the welfare of their crews,’ NFFO chief executive Barrie Deas said.

‘Every day of the week many French fishing vessels fish within UK waters, sometimes as close as six miles from the coast, much to the annoyance of British fishermen. On many occasions, UK fishermen have been tied up, quotas exhausted, as French vessels with their much more generous allocations have continued to fish in sight of land. The French share of Channel cod is 84%. The UK share is 9%. This has been intensely frustrating but at no time have British fishermen resorted to intimidating or violent tactics. Only last week, French trawlers (not for the first time) towed away crab pots set Cornish fishermen only eight miles from the UK coast. This provocation was met with fury and protests, but also restraint.’

He said that the UK’s departure from the EU and the CFP will be a game changer, commenting that as French fishermen engaged in the Baie de Seine dispute claim, after Brexit UK vessels will have no longer have an automatic right of access to fish in this area located within the French Exclusive Economic Zone.

‘Their French colleagues along the coast will not miss the much bigger implication. As the UK will (automatically) become an independent coastal state when the UK leaves the EU, French vessels will no longer have an automatic right to fish in the UK EEZ. As the European fleets currently catch around six times as much in UK waters as UK vessels catch in EU waters, they rightly understand that the writing is on the wall for the grossly asymmetrical arrangements that have existed under the Common Fisheries Policy,’ he said.

‘Under UN law of the sea, the coastal state has responsibility for managing the resources within its EEZ and to determine who will be allowed to fish in its waters and under what conditions. The EU will, of course, have the same rights to exclude or apply conditions to UK vessels fishing in French waters. But their pool of resources is much smaller and our effort in their waters, by comparison, is tiny.’

He commented that the scallop debacle last week has proved to be an embarrassment the government in Paris, and France in particular is intent on keeping something as close as possible to the status quo on access to fish in UK waters and quota shares.

‘Their cause is not helped by a bring-it-on attitude within parts of the French industry,’ Barrie Deas said, adding that there is a legal obligation on all countries which share transboundary fish stocks, to co-operate in their management and sustainable exploitation.

‘The most likely future model for management of shared stocks is annual bilateral agreements – as currently happens between EU and Norway. Safe harvesting rates are agreed on the basis of scientific advice and levels of access to fish in each other’s waters, along with quota shares are agreed during autumn negotiations each year,’ he said.

‘The French authorities have primary responsibility for ensuring that there is no recurrence of the anarchic and troubling scenes witnessed last week. If such events were to take place in UK waters, doubtless a police investigation would be underway and there is no dearth of evidence, supplied on video by the perpetrators themselves.’

‘Scallops are a valuable resource and it is vital that they are fished only at sustainable levels. There is no fundamental reason why in a spirit of reconciliation and compromise, a deal acceptable to both sides cannot be reached.’

Source: NFFO

[Davie Tait]

The most abhorrent occupation in the world?

http://blog.through-the-gaps.co.uk/2...-in-world.html

Scallop wars rage on as French fishermen catch 44 rare tuna off Jersey coast

https://news.sky.com/story/scallop-w...coast-11490021

French navy 'ready to intervene' in scallops row with Britain's 'Brexiteer' fishermen

https://www.thelocal.fr/20180904/fre...tish-fisherman

Brian Monteith: Scallop Wars show why talk of the Auld Alliance is misty-eyed romanticism

https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinio...cism-1-4793816

[Davie Tait]

'They have ROBBED us' Brexiteer fisherman rips into French 'hypocrisy' over Scallop Wars

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/10...h-UK-fishermen

Scallop row: London talks to find 'amicable' solution

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45411941

Showdown talks to be held today in bid to end scallop wars

https://news.sky.com/story/scallop-w...coast-11490021

[Davie Tait]

French fishermen want Britons to fish more fairly

https://news.sky.com/story/french-fi...airly-11491071

Typical of Sky "news" to take the French side...

[Davie Tait]

Britain SURRENDERS in the Scallop wars! UK ships will NOT fish in French waters in return for 'reasonable compensation', Government reveals

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...p-clashes.html

Scallop wars: Breakthrough after UK and France talks

https://news.sky.com/story/scallop-w...talks-11491122