After a similar operation launched Sunday evening in Boulogne-sur-Mer, the main French port, boats from Bayonne, Saint-Jean-de-Luz or Capbreton, carried in the Adour estuary banners with messages such as "State + NGO = death of artisanal fishing" or "sailors are threatened".
The fishermen were reacting in particular to the recent decision of the Council of State, seized by several environmental associations, to impose within six months the closure of certain fishing areas of the Atlantic in order to preserve dolphins whose strandings have multiplied in the Bay of Biscay.
Mr. Mercier assured that the "dolphins trapped in the nets" were only a "minority" and was surprised by the recent presence of these cetaceans in the Seine, Lake Capbreton (Landes) or stranded alive on beaches in Charente-Maritime.
"I think beyond the problem of fishing, there is an environmental problem, there may be something that affects them," he added.
"NGOs attack all trades, spinners, trawlers, etc. We are harassed. There, it is no longer only the fishing method that is in question, it is the sailor-fisherman who must be eliminated from France," denounces Jean-Yves Elissalde, a fisherman in Bayonne.
Fishing boats block the entrance to the port of Bayonne to warn about "the death of artisanal fishing", on March 29, 2023 in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques © GAIZKA IROZ / AFP
Earlier this week, the national fisheries committee called for the first time for dead days in French ports to demand from the government responses to a series of "attacks" weakening the sector, in a climate of tension not seen since the Brexit crisis.
This operation scheduled for Thursday and Friday aims to block the entire sector (fishing, sales, fish trading, processing).
© 2023 AFP