Scallop war: French and British boats clash in Channel

French fishermen have been accused of throwing insults, rocks and smoke bombs at their British rivals in the English Channel in a vicious scrap over scallops.

The clash happened around 12 nautical miles (22km) off the Normandy coast, near the Bay of Seine.

British boats are legally entitled to fish in the scallop-rich area.

But their presence has infuriated the French, who accuse the British of shamelessly depleting shellfish stocks.

Now UK fishermen are demanding government protection, while the French bewail the loss of a “primary resource”.

In short, it’s full-blown scallop wars.

Sounds fishy. What exactly happened?

Around 40 French boats gathered overnight on Monday in protest against so-called British “pillaging”.

“The French went to contact the British to stop them working and they clashed with each other,” said Normandy fishing chief Dimitri Rogoff. “Apparently there was stone-throwing, but no injuries.”

Some boats were damaged in the skirmish, with three suffering holes, footage from France 3 Normandie showed.

The British couldn’t match the local armada for numbers. With about five boats to 35 French vessels, they were ultimately chased away.

Two British boats, Golden Promise and Joanna C, returned to Brixham harbour with damaged windows.

The crews alleged they were surrounded and had rocks and metal shackles thrown at their boats.

A video published by French media appears to show a Scottish scallop dredger, the Honeybourne 3, colliding with nearby vessels.