When parties are fighting over scarce resources, dispute resolution can prove especially difficult. A negotiation impasse may prolong the conflict, and agreements might need to be continually revisited. A 2018 dispute between French and British fishermen in the English Channel offers an illuminating case study of the importance of keeping long-term negotiation goals in sight.
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Mutiny over Bounty
In Europe, the European Union sets fishing regulations for most species of seafood, but individual nations govern their fishermen’s catch of scallops.
French scallop fishermen generally operate small, family-owned boats close to shore and sell the scallops they dredge live, Dmitri Rogoff, the head of Normandy’s fishing organization, told Reuters. To prevent overfishing, France bans its fishermen from dredging scallops between May 15 and October 1.
By contrast, the British fleet includes larger ships that dredge scallops in deeper international waters, then freeze and process the catch onboard. In contrast to France, the United Kingdom allows British fishermen to dredge scallops year-round. British vessels can operate in the expansive Baie de la Seine, a 40-mile French inlet of the English Channel, as long as they stay 12 miles from the French coast.
The French fishermen have long resented the presence of British boats in the bay, urging them to join in halting scallop dredging during the summer to allow stocks to replenish. Frustrations escalated in 2012, when about 40 French boats tried to scare away five British vessels by surrounding and banging into them.
A Leaky Agreement
In response to the escalating tensions, fishermen from both sides began negotiating annual agreements that limit large British ships from dredging scallops in the Baie de la Seine and give several scallop permits to the French.
However, the agreement notably did not include restrictions on small British ships. In 2018, the French said that the British had “undermined the spirit of the deal by sending more and more small vessels” to the area, according to Reuters. Rogoff claimed that British fishermen ramped up scallop trawling and avoided renegotiation. French fisherman Anthony Quesnel complained to Agence France-Presse that the British scallop fishermen “work a month earlier than us and they leave us the crumbs.”
Fishing for a Solution
The conflict eventually reached a boiling point. In August 2018, a French TV crew captured video of approximately 35 French boats banging the hulls of about five British scallop boats and setting off smoke bombs. No one was injured in the clash, but the British asked the Royal Navy for protection.
The tension prompted the nations’ agriculture ministers to agree to get back to the bargaining table. In the interim, small British ships promised not to forage in the Baie. The two nations reached a negotiated agreement that granted British fishermen “reasonable compensation” for agreeing not to enter French waters, according to the Telegraph.
An All-Too-Common Tragedy
The so-called Scallop Wars can be categorized as the type of social dilemma that ecologist Garrett Hardin referred to as “the tragedy of the commons.” In such social dilemmas, each member of a group works against the common good by taking as much of a shared, scarce resource as it can. When all members act in a self-interested manner, the resource is depleted, and everyone suffers. Therefore, individual members face a dilemma between claiming value for themselves and restricting their behavior to contribute to the long-term survival of the resource.
Because parties have self-serving interpretations of what would constitute a fair agreement, social dilemmas can be notoriously difficult to resolve. Overfishing crises throughout the world are examples of unresolved social dilemmas. It’s unusual for parties to police themselves, as the French did, to allow the resource to replenish. When parties do police themselves, they are likely to resent those whom they perceive to be taking more than their “fair share.”
Dispute Resolution of Social Dilemmas
Social dilemmas can be resolved by enlisting a neutral third party chosen by all members to make a decision or provide counsel about what would constitute a fair settlement. Formal mediation, arbitration, and other forms of dispute resolution also can be effective at resolving social dilemmas.
In the case of the Baie de la Seine dispute, the negotiated agreement succeeded for a time at satisfying the parties involved. Hostilities broke out again in 2020, after the most recent agreement lapsed and the French accused the British of violating the spirit of the agreement. Thus, the story illustrates the importance of meeting to renegotiate agreements well before they expire and adjusting them to reflect new problems and concerns that may have arisen.
In sum, when facing an entrenched social dilemma, consider:
- Enlisting a neutral third party to help you reach a fair solution.
- Acknowledging the importance of safeguarding the resource for the long term.
- Revisiting agreements frequently to see if they need to be adjusted.
What strategies have you used successfully in dispute resolution?
Claim your FREE copy: Dispute Resolution
Discover how to improve your dispute resolution skills in this free report, Dispute Resolution: Working Together Toward Conflict Resolution on the Job and at Home, from Harvard Law School.
