Scallop war reignites as British fishing boat is SEIZED by France

A British fishing boat has been seized by France after a French captain accused UK trawlers of plundering their resources in the latest 'Scallop War' flare-up.

The Scottish fishing boat, named the Star of Jura, was seized off the coast of Calvados, in the Normandy region of northwestern France on Monday, after the vessel was ordered into the Channel port of Le Havre on suspicion of catching undersized scallops.

The skipper, who has not been named, took his 19-metre scallop dredger into the port on Saturday while being escorted by a maritime police boat after an inspection uncovered an illegal catch, French authorities revealed.

French inspectors who boarded the Star of Jura found up to a tonne of undersized scallops in its mega catch of 16 tonnes - with the load taken just outside of the Bay of Seine fishing zone.

'We're fed up. Not only do we not have the same standards, but they're also coming to plunder the resource right in front of our homes!,' an angered Norman fishing captain said.

French authorities said British vessels often use dredging equipment that allows them to bring scallops less than 11cm in diameter to surface, which is the smallest permitted by law.

According to the rules, fishing smaller scallops disturbs their reproduction and fishermen are expected to put the undersized molluscs back into the sea.

After the Scottish boat was diverted into the port, local Norman fishermen were left furious at the 'very penalising difference in fishing rules'.

'The English can fish for longer, with less restrictive standards and gear. And we have to watch without flinching as they plunder the deposits and threaten the resource for years to come,' Pascal, a fishing skipper from Calvados told LeParisien.

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The prosecutor's office in Normandy will decide whether to take action against the captain of the British ship following the police report.

The captain now also faces a fine of up to almost £12,500 as well as the seizure of their entire cargo which is valued at around £29,000, authorities told local media

This incident is just the latest episode in the decade-old 'scallop war' involving British boats and French authorities. 

Normandy fishermen, who rely on scallops for a staggering 50 per cent of their income, accuse the British of ravaging their scallop beds.

The French want their 'Anglo-Saxon' counterparts to stay north of a line running from Barfleur to Cap d'Antifer, both of which are in Normandy, and to only use small vessels to avoid running supplies down.

Normandy fishing chief Dimitri Rogoff said in 2021: 'The French engaged the British to stop them fishing, and they clashed with each other.'

French boats currently only have the right to fish for scallops from October 1 until May 15 to allow local stocks to breed and regenerate.

In the most dramatic scallop clash, in 2018, a group of French boats reportedly attacked British vessels in the Bay of Seine when rocks, smoke bombs and other objects were said to have been launched at English and Scottish vessels.

History of the Scallop Wars'

Britain’s scallop fishing industry is worth around £120million a year and supports more than 1,200 jobs.

But under EU law, the British are not allowed to fish within 12 miles of the French coast.

UK fishermen can dredge for scallops in the 40-mile stretch of international water known as the Bay of Seine – while the French have access from November to February.

Fierce competition between the nations has been simmering since the long-running dispute blew up in 2012 in an incident in which French fishermen attempted to ram British boats.

The dispute was nicknamed the 'Guerre de la Coquille' when again British and French fishermen clashed this time off the coast of Le Havre, France.

French fishermen believe that British fishermen were coming within France’s twelve-mile zone inside the Bay of Seine to dredge for scallops.

The situation was worsened by the fact that the French fishermen were banned from fishing for scallops over the summer months as a measure to allow stocks to spawn and regenerate.

But British fishermen were allowed to dredge scallops all year round, although they only had a limited numbers of day to access the best fishing grounds.

Militant French fishermen demanded a boycott of British caught scallops as the war over fishing rights intensified.

They rammed British boats, pelted them with iron bars and rocks and attempted to snag their propellers with rope.

Protests have seen Norman fishermen overturn trays of scallops in supermarkets and hurl fish in front of shoppers and they have even set fire to live lambs.