No Unauthorized Use

Searching for a bit of colour on a grey day I stopped by these fish boxes at the harbour. I'm always curious about where these things come from and amused by the stern injunctions about their exclusive use in their place of origin. Provenances here were Devon, Southeast and Northwest Ireland. On the other side were boxes stamped with the names of fisheries in Normandy and Brittany, the latter with the warning Toute détention illégale fera l'objet de poursuites judiciares/All illegal holding will be the object of judicial pursuits - but somehow I don't think we'll be seeing French gendarmes swarming over Fishguard harbour to recover a few plastic containers.

I like the way that fishermen up and down the coasts of Western Europe happily swop and recycle each other's equipment, regardless of these futile regulations. 'Twas ever thus: the brotherhood of the sea has its own autonomy.