Background

The Turbot War was a dispute between Canada and Spain which took place in 1995. The two nations clashed when Spain continued to fish for turbot on the edge of Canada’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as Canada was attempting to restrict fishing for the species, fearing that stocks were on the verge of collapse. The Turbot War was a major international diplomatic incident and led to long-term changes in the management and protection of fishing grounds.

 After the Grand Banks Collapse

Following the collapse of the Grand Banks cod fishery in the early 1990s, Canada’s fishing industry was struggling. In less than a decade cod had declined from record catch levels to a species needing protection to survive. This dramatic decline in fish stocks meant that around 50,000 jobs had been lost in the Canadian commercial fishing industry and many communities had been devastated by the loss of their primary, sometimes only, source of income. In an attempt to revive their fish stocks, Canada declared a moratorium on cod fishing and imposed strict rules meaning that only a limited number of trawlers could go out fishing for other species. Restoration of cod stocks would take years, so the Canadian government searched for a new species of fish to catch, this time in a sustainable way. They eventually settled on Greenland turbot. This was a species that was relatively plentiful in Canadian waters and had a growing reputation as a food fish and therefore an increasing economic value.

However, other countries were also targeting the Greenland turbot, often fishing right on the edge of Canada’s EEZ and using fishing gear which was illegal under Canadian law, such as small-mesh nets. The Canadians also claimed that foreign vessels had quotas that were set too high, fished too intensively and their overfishing on the edge of the EEZ was going to undo all the conservation measures that Canada had put in place to restore their fish stocks. Canada had limited its catch of Greenland turbot to 27,000 tons a year to ensure the species did not go the same way as the Grand Banks cod, but European trawlers, mostly Spanish and Portuguese, were taking a further 50,000 tons. There was a growing sense of frustration from Canadian fishermen who felt like they were having to suffer the economic hardship of limiting turbot catches while EU vessels decimated stocks just outside their EEZ. While there was support in Canada for their fishermen the European Union backed the Spanish and Portuguese fishermen, citing their historic right to fish in waters which straddled the Canadian EEZ.

Species Confusion

Confusion about the species being discussed here often arises due to the differing names given to fish species in different countries. People in Canada generally call the fish in question Greenland turbot, and so this whole episode has become known as the Turbot War. But the Canadians also refer to this fish as Greenland halibut, and from a UK perspective the species this conflict is named after is the halibut, meaning the Halibut War would be a more accurate term for this conflict for people from the UK. Despite what some books and internet articles say, the large, circular flatfish known as turbot in Britain (Scophthalmus maximus) has absolutely nothing to do with this conflict.

Canada Takes Action

The situation came to a head in 1995. Canadian minister Brian Tobin, director of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), was incensed by an EU ruling which gave European vessels an increased quota in the disputed zone. He urged the Canadian government to take stronger action and was successful in getting existing legislation expanded to make it an offence for European vessels to continue to fish at the edge of Canada’s EEZ. It was then decided that Canada needed to show how serious it was by making an example of one of the European vessels. On 9th March a Canadian air patrol plane spotted the Spanish factory-freezer trawler Estai fishing twenty-eight miles outside of the EEZ. Canadian Coast Guard and Navy vessels, led by the CCGS Sir Wilfred Grenfell, were launched and headed towards the Spanish trawler. On spotting the approaching Canadian vessels the skipper of the Estai, Captain Enrique Davila Gonzalez, ordered the crew to cut their nets and steam away from the Canadians at top speed.

The Canadians gave chase and the pursuit lasted for several hours. The Estai only stopped when the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Cape Roger fired a burst of machine gun fire across its bows, and warned that the next shots would be aimed at the Estai itself. By this time other Spanish fishing boats had come to assist the Estai and had to be held off by high-pressure water cannons from the Sir Wilfred Grenfell. The Estai was then boarded by DFO officers and a Canadian trawler was used to recover the Estai’s net from the seabed. It was soon found that the net had a much smaller mesh size than Canadian law allowed. The crew of the Estai were therefore arrested and the Spanish ship was towed back to the Canadian city of St. John’s, a journey that took 48 hours.

The Canadians made the most of the publicity. A crowd of 5,000 people gathered to see the Estai being impounded in St. John’s harbour, and Brian Tobin later arranged a press conference in New York City outside of the United Nations headquarters. Tobin had the Estai’s net suspended from a crane and spoke to the world’s media, describing in detail how the small mesh size meant that the Spanish vessel had been fishing illegally. Tobin was steadfast in his view that Canadian law applied in the waters where the Estai was fishing and that Canada had the legal authority to take action against the Spanish vessel and arrest the crew, despite the Estai operating outside of Canada’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

The Situation Escalates

The Spanish government was furious and demanded the immediate release of the Estai and its crew. They claimed that Canada had no right to arrest the crew of the ship, and although the net was illegal under Canadian law they were fishing outside of Canada’s EEZ in international waters where there were no laws governing mesh size. Canada cited the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, which stated that they had the legal right to protect fish stocks that straddle their EEZ and international waters, and Canadian law applied to vessels fishing in these waters. The Canadian claims were further strengthened when an independent inspection of the Estai reported back: 70-80 per cent of fish the Spanish vessel had caught were undersized or protected species, and a false bulkhead revealed secret storage tanks that contained twenty-five tons of the heavily protected American plaice – a species which had been under a moratorium since 1992 due to declining stocks. Furthermore, the captain had two differing sets of logbooks recording his catch – a favourite trick of corrupt skippers who catch way over their quota and then submit one logbook containing correct figures to the authorities while keeping the true figures in the other logbook for their own use. The reasons why the Estai cut its nets and tried to flee the Canadian forces were now apparent.

European countries were split over who they supported in the dispute. Britain and Ireland took Canada’s side, while, despite the obvious wrongdoing of the Estai, the European Union and Iceland supported the Spanish. By this point, the dispute had descended into name-calling, with the Spanish claiming the Canadians had behaved like “pirates”, while Canada accused Spain of being “conservation criminals” and “cheats.” Germany lent support to the Spanish, while British Prime Minister John Major risked turning the EU community against Britain by reiterating strong support for the Canadians. When the issue of the EU bringing trade sanctions against Canada was proposed, Major made it clear that Britain would use its veto to block any such sanctions from going ahead. Many British and Irish trawlers began flying the Canadian flag to show which side they supported in the dispute. This led to the Cornish trawler Newlyn being challenged by a French patrol boat which thought it was a Canadian ship as it was flying the Canadian flag. The French backed down when they realised the ship was British and no further action was taken.

Canada later released Captain Gonzalez and the crew of the Estai, and, once the owners of the Spanish vessel had paid a fine of $500,000 fine (the equivalent of $925,000 or £545,000 in 2023), the ship was released and sailed back to its home port of Vigo in north-west Spain. However, Canada would not enter into any negotiations until all foreign fishing vessels left the disputed area on the edge of their EEZ. Spain steadfastly refused this and sent trawlers back there, this time with a Spanish navy Serviola-class patrol boat to protect them. Spain also began to prepare a more serious task force consisting of frigates and tankers to head to the area. In late March talks between the two nations broke down. Canada began to increase the numbers of its naval and coast guard vessels across the edge of their EEZ, along with a higher number of surveillance air patrols. Brian Tobin also said that he was prepared to use net cutters to sever the trawl nets of Spanish vessels, just as the Icelandic Coast Guard had done to British trawlers to great effect in the Cod Wars of the 1970s. Standing in front of a screen which showed a video of net cutters in action he told the gathered Canadian media: “It’s the equivalent to having someone take the tires off your car … You’re not going very far without them.” It was also reported that Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétein had authorised his navy to fire at any armed Spanish Navy ships that sailed in or around Canada’s EEZ.

Resolution

Realising that there was a very real possibility of actual conflict breaking out over the dispute the EU put pressure on Spain to back down and agree to a deal. Despite Spanish objections, a deal was reached on 5th April. Spain was forced to leave the disputed zone and Canada’s right to eject foreign fishing vessels from the area, using military force if necessary, was accepted. Under the deal, Canada’s own Greenland turbot quota was reduced, and they refunded the $500,000 fine to the owners of the Estai. The incident was over but it was remarkable how close two nations which were both NATO members and had previously been close allies had come to armed conflict over the issue of fishing grounds. The international community was also taken by surprise over Canada’s aggression and how proactive they had been in using armed vessels to protect their fisheries. This was seen as a result of the Grand Banks collapse and the devastation this had caused – Canada had seen major economic hardship due to fish stocks collapsing and were not going to stand by and see their turbot stocks decimated by foreign vessels in the way their cod stocks had been

The whole incident worked wonders for the political career of Brian Tobin. His poll rating had been slipping prior to the Turbot War but his forceful protection of Canadian interests saw a revival of his fortunes, and he was even given the nicknames ‘Captain Canada’ and ‘The Turbotinator’. Claims that the Turbot War was a media-orientated stunt to deflect attention from high levels of unemployment found little traction. The Halifax Evening News wrote, “Few events have brought such a sense of common cause across the sprawling, argumentative width of Canada as the clash with Spanish trawlers”. Tobin was elected Premier of Newfoundland in 1996 and served a four-year term before becoming Industry Minister in 2000. He retired from politics in 2002 and took up a career in business.