Buzz
As long as humanity has relied on fishing for sustenance, there has been conflict over who controls the best catch. Though there are no records of prehistoric humans fighting over the largest trout, the fishing industry has seen its fair share of fierce disputes. This list highlights moments when tensions between fishermen escalated into riots, international confrontations, and even armed conflict.
10. Oyster Wars (1865-1959)
The Oyster Wars erupted after the American Civil War, driven by a surge in the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry. The area became a magnet for fortune hunters, and conflict soon broke out between the locals and newcomers. As the supply of settlers to target dwindled, the violence spread internally, with gunfights occurring between Maryland and Virginia watermen, as well as within the states between fishermen from different counties.
Government intervention soon followed, with Maryland establishing the ‘Oyster Navy,’ a maritime police force that proved largely ineffective. In 1882, Virginia’s governor, William Cameron, dispatched a militia to seize seven boats suspected of illegal oyster harvesting in the Rappahannock River. Violent clashes continued until 1959, when Maryland patrolmen shot and killed Virginian waterman Berkeley Muse. To prevent further bloodshed, both states signed an agreement to end the conflict that had lasted for nearly a century.
9. Palingoproer: The Dutch Eel Uprising (1886)
In 19th century Amsterdam, one of the most popular activities was eel-pulling (palingtrekken). A rope would be strung across a canal with a live eel attached in the middle. Men in small boats would then attempt to pull the slippery eel free, with the winner earning six guilders, a decent amount of pocket money at the time. Though the sport was outlawed by the 1880s, it remained highly popular.
On July 25, 1886, a lively round of palingtrekken was underway on the Lindegracht Canal. After three successful pulls, the police arrived and demanded that the event be stopped. The authorities entered one of the houses where the ropes were anchored to cut the eel loose. According to legend, when the rope fell, it struck a spectator who retaliated by hitting the police with an umbrella. Within hours, a full-blown riot erupted, with crowds hurling bricks at the police. The situation calmed overnight, but the next day, the army opened fire on rioters attacking the police station. Twenty-six civilians were killed, and thirty-two others were severely injured, making the Palingoproer one of the most brutal episodes of police violence in Dutch history.
8. Newlyn Mackerel Riots (1896)
Newlyn, a coastal town in western England, had long been a fishing port. In the late 19th century, many Newlyn fishermen were deeply religious and refrained from working on Sundays. However, they had to compete with large fishing companies from the east coast of England, who had no qualms about fishing on the Sabbath. This allowed the eastern boats to sell their catch at higher prices on Monday. Tensions escalated in May 1896 when Tuesday prices plummeted to just 3 shillings for 120 mackerel, sparking widespread resentment among the local fishermen.
On May 18th, a group of frustrated fishermen boarded boats from the east and threw thousands of mackerel back into the sea. The fury quickly spread to other Cornish fishing communities, where some locals attacked eastern boats and set up barriers to block access to their harbors. In response, the authorities called in the military to disperse the rioters, who threw stones at them but eventually backed down, allowing the eastern companies to continue their Sunday fishing activities.
7. Cod Wars (1415-1976)
Cod, one of the most significant fish in economic history, has sparked numerous territorial disputes over the centuries. The Cod Wars between the United Kingdom and Iceland stand as the longest-lasting conflict on this list, with historians counting up to ten distinct episodes over several hundred years. The first Cod War began in 1415 when English authorities arrested a Danish official in Iceland, then under Denmark's rule. This clash resulted in a treaty that was repeatedly renegotiated for centuries, with both sides seeking to reclaim control of the cod trade whenever political instability arose in the other country.
Throughout the 20th century, three Cod Wars broke out, mostly involving tactics like warning shots, cutting fishing nets, and ramming boats. While there were some minor skirmishes between the countries' vessels, only two fatalities were recorded in the modern Cod Wars: a British fisherman and an Icelandic engineer who both died accidentally. Ultimately, Iceland was considered the victor in the Cod Wars, with the resulting treaties effectively putting an end to British long-distance fishing.
6. Lobster War (1961-1964)
Do lobsters crawl or swim? This was the key issue in the so-called Lobster War between France and Brazil in the early 1960s. Brazilian authorities insisted that spiny lobsters crawled along the continental shelf within their territory, while French fishermen argued that lobsters swam like fish, thus making them fair game for any nation. After French vessels were caught harvesting lobsters off Pernambuco's coast, the Brazilian president gave France 48 hours to withdraw all boats. When France refused, the Brazilian Navy seized a French ship and cut off access to their waters. The following year, Brazil captured three more French vessels, sparking an international conflict that wasn't resolved until 1964. The two nations reached an agreement that expanded Brazil’s territorial waters but allowed limited French lobster fishing. No violence occurred, but the debate over whether lobsters crawl or swim continued for years among biologists.
5. Galveston Bay Shrimp Conflict (1979-1981)
After the Vietnam War, some Southeast Asian refugees settled in the Galveston Bay area of Texas, finding work on shrimp boats. This influx of refugee shrimpers created tensions with local white shrimpers, who saw the newcomers as competition for the bay's limited resources. Violence erupted in 1979 after a fistfight escalated, resulting in the shooting of a white crabber and the burning of several Vietnamese boats. These tensions intensified, leading to the arrival of the Texas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1981. They began intimidating Vietnamese shrimpers, staging armed demonstrations both on land and at sea. White supremacists directly threatened violence, brandishing firearms and circling shrimp boats in military gear.
A harassment trial initiated by the Southern Poverty Law Center resulted in the release of a video showing KKK leader Louis Beam encouraging his militia to 'utterly destroy everybody.' The lawsuit led to the end of the harassment and the disbandment of the paramilitary groups, but by then, many Vietnamese shrimpers had already fled or experienced property damage. This incident inspired the 1985 film *Alamo Bay*. Beam and his followers continued to incite extremist violence across the country, contributing to the rise of contemporary white supremacist groups that still pose threats to minority communities today.
4. Turbot War (1995)
In 1995, the Canadian Coast Guard captured the Spanish trawler Estai, which was fishing in international waters off Newfoundland. Canadian authorities claimed the Spanish vessel had surpassed its quota for Greenland turbot, a quirky flatfish that's great with butter and capers. Despite the European Union condemning the action as 'organized piracy,' Canadian vessels went on to cut the nets of three additional Spanish and Portuguese boats in the weeks that followed. Tensions mounted, and Spain even deployed a warship to protect its fishing vessels. Eventually, Canada and the EU reached an agreement that resolved the conflict by bolstering fishing regulations and increasing Spain's turbot quota. The turbots, however, were never invited to the negotiation table—just to the dinner table.
3. Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Lobster Dispute (2020)
The Mi’kmaq Lobster Dispute, the most recent entry on this list, is still ongoing. A 1999 ruling by the Canadian Supreme Court granted the Mi’kmaq Indigenous tribe the right to fish on a small scale, whenever and wherever they choose. In September 2020, the Sipekne’katik First Nation established a small lobster fishery in Nova Scotia, which sparked outrage among non-Indigenous fishermen, who accused them of fishing outside the commercial season. By October, several mobs of non-Indigenous fishermen attacked Indigenous-owned lobster facilities in Nova Scotia, throwing rocks, smashing windows, and threatening to burn the place down unless the workers inside left. One facility was destroyed in a fire, and the live lobsters inside were poisoned with PVC cement. Canadian officials have called for peace after the violence, but tensions remain high between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishermen.
2. Guang Da Xing No. 28 Incident (2013)
On May 9, 2013, a Filipino Coast Guard patrol boat fired upon the unarmed Taiwanese fishing vessel, Guang Da Xing No. 28, in disputed waters between the two countries. The coast guard's gunfire struck the vessel at least 45 times, killing 65-year-old fisherman Hoh Shi Cheng. The incident ignited a flare-up in the territorial conflict between the Philippines and Taiwan, both of which claim the waters where the shooting occurred. Demonstrations broke out in both countries, including a Filipino ex-policeman burning a Taiwanese flag to proclaim that 'Filipinos are not cowards.' Relations between the two nations have since returned to normal, and in 2019, the eight coast guard officers responsible for the shooting were convicted.
1. Great Scallop War (2012-2020)
In October 2012, around forty French fishing boats surrounded a handful of British vessels off the coast of France. The French fishermen were angry because their country banned scallop harvesting between May and October, while British fishermen had no such restrictions and could fish year-round. According to the British crew, the French boats hurled stones and nets at them, along with some insults worthy of a Monty Python sketch. Despite efforts to resolve tensions, violence erupted again in 2018 and 2020 between the British and French scallop fishermen. The French were accused of throwing not just rocks but frying pans, flares, gasoline bombs, and even oil at their British counterparts. Clearly, these neighbors were not on the best terms!
