October 10, 2012 โ A British fisherman today claimed that his boat was attacked by crew on a rival French vessel โ who pelted his boat with rocks and fired flares at it โ in a dispute over lucrative scallop beds.
Anton Bailey said he was surrounded by French fishing boats in international waters off the coast of Le Havre in Normandy, France, and claimed one of the vessels even tried to ram his trawler.
Mr Bailey, of Brixham, Devon, said: โThey were just trying to stop us from our fishing activity. They were shooting flares at other vessels, every underhanded thing you could think of.
'Then they threw rocks at us and tried to ram us. I've never seen this before and I have been at sea 20 years.โ
A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman confirmed an incident where โBritish fishing vessels were being confronted by French fishing vesselsโ had been reported to the organisation.
She said: โWe contacted the French Coastguard who sent a French patrol vessel to the area. The French authorities are continuing to monitor the situation, which we now believe has been resolved.โ
The spokesman said the agency had received no further reports of trouble since Mondayโs incident.
Read the full story at the Daily Mail