Turbot War

Turbot War
The location of the bulk of the conflict
Date March 9,1995–April 16, 1995 Location Grand Banks of Newfoundland and the English Channel Result Canadian position recognized[1][2] In 1996, Canada agrees not to apply its laws to Spanish fishing vessels with criteria of extraterritoriality.
Belligerents
Canada  United Kingdom  Ireland	Spain  European Union
Commanders and leaders
Jean Chrétien Brian Tobin Earle McCurdy Lawrence E. Murray	Felipe González Eduardo Serra Javier Solana Emma Bonino ( European Commission)
Casualties and losses
None	1 fishing vessel captured
1 British fishing vessel mistakenly captured by French authorities

The Turbot War (known in Spain as Guerra del Fletán; French: Guerre du flétan) was an international fishing dispute and bloodless conflict between Canada and Spain (with the European Union) and their respective supporters.

On 9 March 1995, Canadian officials from the Canadian Fisheries Patrol vessel Cape Roger boarded the Spanish fishing trawler Estai^[3] from Galicia in international waters 220 nautical miles (410 km; 250 mi) off Canada's East Coast after they had fired three 50-calibre machine-gun bursts over its bow.^[4] They arrested the trawler's crew, then forced the Estai to a Canadian harbour. Canada claimed that European Union factory ships were illegally overfishing Greenland halibut (also known as Greenland turbot) in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) regulated area on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, just outside Canada's declared 200-nautical-mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone (EEZ).