FLYING FISH

Several thousand Spanish fishermen pelted the Canadian Embassy in Madrid with raw eggs and dead mackerel to protest what they said was Canada's harassment of Spanish trawlers in the North Atlantic. In the latest turn in the month-long conflict overfishing and conservationin Canadian waters, Canadian patrol boats allegedly tried to snip the nets off two Spanish trawlers, and by some accounts actually boarded the vessels. Canadian officials, who have stopped European boats recently to prevent overfishing of turbot, flatly denied the charges. Still, the uproar caused international talks over the issue in Brussels to be suspended for a day. Behind the scenes,TIME Ottawa contributor Gavin Scottsays, cooler heads at the negotiating table expect a full resolution as soon as Monday.