British, French fisherman spar over scallops
French fishermen threw stones at U.K. fishing boats in the Bay of Seine.
LONDON -- The French have a message for the Brits: share the shellfish!
Twenty-two nautical miles off the coast of Normandy in the Bay of Seine, dramatic video shows French and U.K. fishermen clashing Monday night on the high seas, over scallops. In the video, the fishermen can be seen ramming their boats into one another, chucking rocks and hurling insults.
More than three dozen French boats faced off against about five British and Scottish boats, and eventually the outnumbered U.K. fishermen retreated with several damaged vessels.
According to Sky News, the British fishermen have now asked the Royal Navy for protection.
"The French went to contact the British to stop them working and they clashed with each other," Normandy fishing chief Dimitri Rogoff told the BBC. "Apparently there was stone-throwing, but no injuries."
The Bay of Seine is filled with scallops, and the French complain that because U.K. boats are allowed to fish there all year, the Brits are taking all the good stuff before they ever arrive.
"For the Brits, it's an open bar — they fish when they want, where they want, and as much as they want," Rogoff told the BBC. For French fishermen, the French government limits scallop fishing from Oct. 1 to May 15.
"We don't want to stop them from fishing, but they could at least wait until 1 October so that we can share."
"Scallops are a flagship product for Normandy, a primary resource and a highly sensitive issue," Rogoff added, speaking with the BBC.
Britain's National Federation of Fishermen's Organizations is asking the parties to negotiate at the table, not "on the high seas where people could be hurt," the group told the BBC.