A group of Marseille fishermen, angry with Greenpeace over its calls to outlaw tuna fishing, took a leaf out of the campaigners’ book and blocked the environmental group’s ship Rainbow Warrior from docking in the port on Wednesday.

The vessel was forced to wait outside of the southern French port city, known for the less-than-genteel attitudes of its inhabitants, as fishermen engaged in ‘direct action’ to defend their right to catch tuna.

Following 24 hours of suspense, the Warrior has now left Marseille and is heading for Spain, where Greenpeace is to promote its campaign against concreting over the coast.

Greenpeace justified its calls for a total ban on tuna fishing by saying that current levels of illegal fishing risked killing off populations in the Mediterranean completely.

Goska Romanowicz

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