Michael Gove defends British fishermen involved in scallops row with French fleet
2 min read
Michael Gove has called on France’s authorities to better protect British fishermen following an extraordinary clash between them and their French counterparts over access to scallops.
The Environment Secretary said his “heart goes out” to the English and Scots fishers who reportedly faced rocks, smoke bombs and other objects being hurled at them during a confrontation in the English Channel on Monday night.
He said Britain’s trawlers had “every right” to be in the waters off the Normandy coast and said the UK was working with Paris to try and dial down tensions and prevent further incidents.
Around 40 French boats were said to be involved in trying to stop five larger British boats from fishing in the Bay of Seine after a breakdown of negotiations between the countries’ respective scallop industries to secure an agreement.
Mr Gove said it was the responsibility of French authorities to deal with such incidents, adding that he expects "all vessels licensed to operate in EU waters to respect the right of others to do so".
“My heart goes out to the British fishermen who were caught up in the terrible scenes that we saw happen earlier this week,” he said.
“They were fishing entirely legally, they had every right to be in those waters and we talked to the French authorities in order to ensure that we have a protocol.
“These are French waters - it’s the responsibility of the French to ensure that those who have a legal right to fish can continue to fish uninterrupted.”
His call comes after Theresa May said she hoped there would be an "amicable solution" to the feud and that a peaceful resolution was "what [the UK wants] and it's what France wants and we will be working on that."
Local official Ingrid Parrot defended the decision to send just one boat to police the incident “to stop the tensions from increasing” but added that more will be sent “if necessary”.
The years-long dispute is over an area of the Channel that French fishermen are prevented from harvesting between much of May through to the beginning of October - but were British fishermen do not face the same restrictions.
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