Spain, EU Claim Canadians Cut Another Trawler’s Net

A new confrontation between Canadian patrol boats and Spanish fishermen in international waters off Newfoundland threatened Thursday to sink negotiations aimed at settling a transatlantic fishing dispute.

Spain and its European Union partners accused the Canadians of cutting the net of a Spanish trawler late Wednesday. Meeting in Luxembourg, EU fisheries ministers denounced Canada’s “further, flagrant violation of international law.” Britain, which is attempting resolve the fishing issue, refused to join in the condemnation.

Wire service reports quoted Spanish national radio interviews with fishermen claiming that the Canadians tried to board one vessel.

In Ottawa, Canadian Fisheries and Oceans Minister Brian Tobin said allegations that there had been any attempt to cut a net or board a Spanish vessel were “absolutely false.”

The dispute centers on a fish known as turbot in Canada and as Greenland halibut in Europe. Canada has unilaterally declared a right to enforce fishing conservation standards on turbot in international waters, claiming that fish in the disputed zone swim in and out of Canadian waters. Tobin has accused Spanish fishermen of plundering the fish stocks, hastening their extinction.

Last month, Canada seized a Spanish trawler and cut the net of another, triggering the uproar.

The 15-nation European Union says Canada is violating international law in a thinly disguised attempt to extend its territorial fisheries and grab all the turbot available. Critics note that Canada is a recent convert to the cause of fish conservation, having helped decimate northern cod and other fish stocks in its waters and beyond in the 1980s.

In Madrid on Thursday, about 3,000 Spanish fishermen gathered in front of the Canadian Embassy to protest Canada’s actions and pelt the building with dead fish.