A homard is a lobster. A langouste is a big edible crayfish. For centuries French and British fishermen have been trapping both in the swarming lobster grounds around minuscule Maitresse Island, largest of the tiny Minquiers group in the English Channel.
An Anglo-French convention of 1839 made the Minquiers Islands an international fishing zone. Shelters were permitted on them but not stone buildings for fear they would be used as fortifications. After the World War the question of sovereignty was again raised and the Minquiers group was made part of Britain's Channel Islands.
There...
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