• The Senate report on the plan to fight green algae is very critical of state policy.

  • For several years, strandings have remained very significant on the Breton coast, in particular because of the nitrates present in the watercourses.

  • The Senate report calls for better clarity of funding and better involvement of the agrifood sector. 

The state will have to explain itself. Breton communities too. After the leaks of the investigation by the Court of Auditors, it is today a report from the Senate that comes to curb the plan to fight against green algae. Started twenty years ago in Brittany, this effort has not generated the expected effects and the ulva are still polluting certain sectors of the Breton coast. "Progress remains largely insufficient," criticizes Bernard Delcros, vice-chairman of the Senate finance committee in his report.

Endowed with seven million euros per year, the fight plan has clearly not been satisfactory and strandings remain massive in a region dominated by agriculture. "The results are not up to the stakes: the nitrate levels in Breton waters, responsible for the proliferation of algae, have certainly fallen but are still clearly higher than the objectives", notes the centrist senator in a press release, asking for "a stronger ambition ”.

A few weeks ago, a draft of the report of the Court of Auditors, the publication of which is expected at the end of June, made the same conclusions.

Many environmental associations have also called for this report to be submitted before the regional elections.

"The voters of Brittany have the right to know what use of public money has been made by candidates who stand for their votes," said the president of the Safeguard association of Trégor.

Involvement of the agrifood sector called for

In his report published Wednesday, Senator Bernard Delcros makes several proposals for "a third more ambitious fight plan" where he calls for better involvement of the agrifood industry.

It proposes regulations adapted to “green algae berries” and better support “to farmers who do not want to change their practices”.

3/4 The rapporteur underlines the lack of clarity of the plan to combat green algae.

Its financing methods are complex and suffer from the difficult articulation between the different funders.

- Senate (@Senate) May 26, 2021

In 2020, 20,000 tonnes were collected in Brittany, against 51,000 tonnes in 2019, 29,000 tonnes in 2018 and 51,000 tonnes in 2017. This year, 90% of strandings are concentrated in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, the most affected by the plague. .

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