Calls for Royal Navy to be deployed amid '˜scallop war' in the Channel

Trawler Honeyborne 3 moored in Shoreham Harbour. Photo: Eddie Mitchell

Britain's fishing industry is demanding a team of Royal Navy bodyguards to protect them from violent French fishers after a '˜scallop war' erupted in the Channel.

French and British fishers clashed in a fight over scallops - with French boats being accused of throwing smoke bombs and stones at English and Scottish vessels.

Dramatic footage of the incident was broadcast by France 3 Normandie, which showed the boats colliding as an object was hurled towards them.

Some British vessels are said to have limped home battered and showing signs of damage from the assault.

Among the British vessels was the The Honeybourne 3, a Scottish scallop dredger, which sailed into Shoreham following the clashes in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The clash comes amid a row that scallop stocks have been stripped by British firms, without giving the population a chance to recover.

It’s the latest incident in a long-running dispute over a scallop-rich area of the coast of France that French fishermen are prevented from harvesting due to local domestic environmental laws.

Violence had previously erupted in 2012 when British and French fishermen clashed over the rights to fish scallops in the area.