In Brest, several hundred fishermen gathered on the port, firing distress flares and burning smoke bombs, from their trawlers, according to an AFP journalist, before incidents broke out at midday.

Despite repeated calls from the Regional Fisheries Committee of Brittany for peaceful action, demonstrators lit fires with garbage cans, including in front of the headquarters of the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) in Brest, targeted by rocket fire and projectile jets.

The professionals denounce "inadequate European regulations", including the ban on bottom fishing in marine protected areas by 2030, and the decision of the Council of State imposing within six months the closure of certain fishing areas in the Atlantic to preserve dolphins whose strandings have multiplied in the Bay of Biscay.

For Brittany, "all ports and vessels are at a standstill," said Jacques Doudet, secretary general of the regional fisheries committee of Brittany.

"We have become pariahs, we have become a profession to be slaughtered. All this to satisfy a handful of fundamentalist NGOs. Simply. So, now, we will have to bang our fists on the table by telling them enough is enough, quite simply," said David Le Quintrec, a Lorient fisherman at the Brest demonstration and who called for a demonstration Monday in front of the Council of State.

In Boulogne-sur-Mer, the main French fishing port where no boat has landed its catch since Sunday evening, at 6:00 Thursday morning, the only movement was that of a mannequin in yellow wax, hanging from the crane of a boat, swayed with the wind, according to an AFP correspondent.

Fishermen's demonstration in front of the French Office for Biodiversity, on March 30, 2023 in Brest © FRED TANNEAU / AFP

Also in Le Havre, about sixty boats blocked the port, noted an AFP correspondent.

Norman fishermen conducted a "free toll operation" on the Normandy bridge, mobilizing a hundred people.

In Sète (Hérault), 150 to 200 fishermen met "to make a statement of demands," Bertrand Wendling, director general of Sathoan, a cooperative, told AFP.

"Leaky industry"

The Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville, who said he was "in solidarity with the spirit of the movement", went to Les Sables-d'Olonne (Vendée) to meet the Regional Committee of Marine Fisheries and Marine Farming of Pays-de-la-Loire (Corepem).

"There is not on one side ecology and on the other bad fishermen," said Mr. Berville after the meeting with representatives of the profession, also ensuring that "the fisheries policy is not done before the courts".

A banner "Fishermen on strike" in the port of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, March 30, 2023 © GAIZKA IROZ / AFP

The national appeal also invited fish merchants and seafood vendors to join the movement.

"If we run out of fish, the whole industry sinks. We can find fish elsewhere but we prefer to work with a French fishery, sustainable, which knows what it is doing, "said Simon Paitrault, a 30-year-old fishmonger, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

On the side of the Boulonnais fish merchants, "it's complicated," blows Alexis Delplanque, employee at Martin Marée, who works the scallop. "Right now, there's nothing on the docks, so we're doing everything by road, from Dieppe."

The blockade of fishermen? "It bothers us a bit, but they have no choice. It's for the future."

The national fisheries committee launched these days of "unitary action" in a climate of tensions not seen since the Brexit crisis, after strong demonstrations in Rennes or Lorient and blockades in Boulogne.

A sign in the shape of a coffin "Death of fishing" during a demonstration in Brest, March 30, 2023 © FRED TANNEAU / AFP

The fishermen are demanding, among other things, the payment of diesel aid, "some of which have not been paid for six months," according to the national committee.

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© 2023 AFP