Nearly 400 fishermen have, according to the police, demonstrated Friday in Le Havre and Cherbourg to say "no to wind turbines which destroy the sea".

In Cherbourg, the demonstrators blocked the exit of vehicles from a ferry for just under an hour.

They also dumped fish in front of the entrance to the local fisheries committee.

They were around 250 according to the police.

"Down with the wind turbines," "angry fishermen," shouted several times some of the 150 fishermen who marched through the streets of Le Havre.

Most of the demonstrators were Norman but a few Breton fishermen had made the trip to Cherbourg and a few fishermen from Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais) to Le Havre.

The president of Sea Shepherd France Lamya Essemlali also demonstrated alongside fishermen in Le Havre to "defend the marine life that will be harmed by wind turbines", as she said publicly to the interregional director of the East Channel Sea. North Sea Hervé Thomas who received a delegation of demonstrators.

The fear of a repetition of English precedents

The association for the defense of the environment Robin des Bois was also represented to say "no to the sale of the seas". "No to the death of artisanal fishing", one could read on a banner in Le Havre, where a hanged mannequin in yellow oilskin posted "let's stop the massacre". Maxime Leroy, young boss-fisherman of a 16 m boat in Boulogne explains that he had spent seven hours at sea to demonstrate in Le Havre. “The fishermen are going to starve. "" For fifteen years the English have put wind turbines in the North Sea, there is no longer a fish. That's why the Dutch come to fish here in winter, ”says Franck Rutten, a fisherman from Le Havre.

For his colleague André Tesson, “he's totally fed up.

Wind turbines are the last straw ”that broke the camel's back.

"It is rather a paving stone in the pond, a file more important than the Brexit", continues Olivier Becquet manager of a cooperative of 77 boats which frequent Le Tréport.

“We don't care about Brexit.

We are here for (a moratorium on) wind turbines, ”said another fisherman.

Off the Tréport, "they want to put a wind farm in the middle of the reproduction area, in the largest field of almonds in Europe," says Olivier Becquet indignantly.

Four park projects in Normandy

In the morning, around 90 fishing boats in all had demonstrated in the ports of Cherbourg and Le Havre, sounding their fog horns and lighting smoke bombs. "Wind turbines should not replace fishermen", "no to the destruction of our fishing areas", could be read on the banners hung on certain boats. Unlike many European countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark or Sweden, France does not yet have any wind farms off its coasts. But at least eight are planned, including four off Normandy.

This energy is advocated by the government as well as by environmental associations like Greenpeace in order to deal with climate change.

In their press release, the organizers of the event plead for nuclear energy, which is very present in Normandy.

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