FISHERMEN from Portland became embroiled in a mid-Channel clash with a French crew in a conflict over fishing rights.

Crew on the Sparkling Line, which sails out of Weymouth, said they came under attack in international waters about 22 miles south east of Portland Bill.

Skipper Ross Gould claimed that French fishermen on the Petit Djimy hurled metal shackles at their boat and tried to damage thousands of pounds worth of fishing gear.

Mr Gould, 21, of Portland, said: “When this French vessel came up, I did the traditional thing which is to throw a tin of baked beans marked with our details on them so they can call us and we can talk.

“Most vessels normally accept it if you’ve already laid your gear in an area and go somewhere else.

“I saw the skipper of the French vessel come out of his wheelhouse, pick up the tin of beans and laugh at us.

“We tried to communicate with them but they weren’t listening. They started making hand gestures at us and then they started to throw these heavy metal shackles at us.”

Ross added: “The next thing we did was lay down a shore rope in front of them to try to keep them from passing but they kept going.

“It was a last resort but they meant business and they carried on through it.

“The rope wrapped around their propeller and that was the only thing that brought them to a halt.

“In the end we had to call the coastguard to get them to communicate with the French vessel.”

Ross said that they have had a lot of trouble with French trawlers in the last six to eight weeks.

His crew has about £30,000 to £40,000 worth of pots in the water in the Channel.

Ross said that the UK Fisheries Protection boat, the Tyne, came to his vessel’s aid while the French crew called out a French navy helicopter to cut the rope around their propeller.

The crew of the Tyne then warned the French vessel not to return to the area.

Mr Gould said: “We can’t afford for this to keep happening to us.

“We’re moving our gear out over the next two days because we don’t want this crew coming back for revenge.

“It’s going to cost me about £3,000 in diesel just to move my gear somewhere else.

“We’ve tried moving down to the Isle of Wight to see if the fishing’s any better but it’s been rubbish.

“The problem we’ve got is that because of the size of our vessel we can’t fish within six miles of the shore – we have to go out to international waters.

“Smaller boats that can fish nearer to the shore get greater protection.”

There was no-one available from the Petit Djimy for comment.