BC FISH SPAIN/Spanish fishermen report fresh clash with Canada

By Julia Hayley

MADRID Spanish fishermen in the North

Atlantic on Thursday reported fresh clashes with Canadian patrol

boats in which the Canadians cut the nets of one Spanish boat

and tried to board another.

The captain of the second boat told Spanish national radio

two Canadian vessels had four times tried to cut his nets and

manoeuvred to within two metres (seven feet) of his ship in

attempts to board.

"Two launches came within two metres of the stern and tried

four times to cut our trawl lines. Luckily for us they failed,"

the captain said.

The patrol boats had passed several times at speeds of 10 11

knots as they tried to board, he added.

"They could have caused a serious accident."

The two Spanish boats had been fishing in international

waters in the south of the disputed fishing grounds at some

distance from the rest of the Spanish fleet, the radio said.

The incidents coincide with continuing negotiations between

Canada and the European Union (EU) to end a bitter dispute over

fishing rights in the North Atlantic, which began last month

when Canada seized a Spanish trawler in international waters off

Newfoundland.

Canada accused Spain of overfishing already depleted stocks

of Greenland halibut.

Officials negotiating in Brussels said they hoped to reach

agreement on redistributing quotas on Monday.

State radio quoted Spain's ambassador to Ottawa, Jose Luis

Pardos, as saying he had received no word from Canadian

authorities on the latest incidents.

"These incidents can only hamper negotiations," Pardos said.

The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO)

introduced quotas for Greenland halibut only this year and gave

the EU 3,400 tonnes of the total allowable catch of 27,000

tonnes, less than a tenth of the amount it caught in 1994.

The EU rejected this and Spanish and Portuguese fishermen,

the only EU members who catch Greenland halibut, have continued

to fish regardless of quotas.

Canada has warned it would use force again to stop them if

the negotiations broke down, but an attack on Spanish boats

before Monday's session was surprising.

Tension in the fishing grounds had been mounting for several

months, culminating in Canada's seizure of the Galicia based

Estai in international waters on March 9.

Spain has sent two patrol boats to the area and has

introduced visas for Canadians in reprisal.