British Fishermen Attack Official

Fishermen angered by European fisheries policies pelted a government minister with flour bombs and barricaded him at Plymouth harbor.

Fisheries Minister Michael Jack, at the harbor on Friday for talks with fishermen, was greeted instead by angry shouts.

Fishermen blockaded him inside the meeting for more than an hour to protest recent European Union legislation that will allow Spanish fishermen to take cod, hake and prawn in prime waters off Britain.

Fishing rights and growing competition over diminishing stocks are sensitive issues in Britain and in Canada, where the government has claimed the right to police international waters outside its 200-mile territorial limit.