They had planned to take action as soon as the work started.
About fifty fishing boats made a show of force this Friday morning in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, encircling an imposing jack-up vessel responsible for the construction of the wind farm at sea. The
Aeolus
, a building of 138 meters long on 38 wide, is responsible for laying the foundations of the wind farm for the company Ailes Marines, a subsidiary of the Spanish group Iberdrola.
For an hour, the Costa-Rican fishermen, helped by colleagues from Dieppe or Crotoy (Baie de Somme), surrounded the boat around which they made numerous turns, sometimes approaching a few meters.
They also fired hazard lights skyward and lit smoke bombs.
The gendarmerie was present on board a Zodiac as well as a patroller from the French Navy.
A threat to marine biodiversity, according to them
The fishermen are calling for the cancellation of this wind farm project, which is to be commissioned at the end of 2023. They see it as a threat to the rich marine biodiversity (lobsters, scallops, etc.) in the bay of Saint-Brieuc. At the same time, environmentalists fear the dispersion of aluminum in the marine food chain. “The message is very simple: we don't want wind power here,” underlined Alain Coudray, from the local fisheries committee. We wanted "to show that we are there and that it is not just the fishermen, and that the residents do not agree either", he added.
The fishermen then left the area in peace, to go to Cap Fréhel, where they were to greet the associations opposed to the wind project, and who at the same time called for a demonstration.
On Monday, about 300 fishermen and members of associations had already gathered in front of the Côtes-d'Armor prefecture against this project.
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Boat
Saint Brieuc
Wind turbine
Challenge
Society
Peach