EU: French fishermen obtain the maintenance of bottom fishing in protected areas

Europe 1 with AFP 20:50 p.m., April 02, 2023

Fishermen and the French government have obtained from the European Commission that it renounces banning by 2030 bottom trawling in marine protected areas, which, according to them, would have put the entire sector at risk. The measure announced on 21 February as part of a more general action plan aimed to protect fish, shellfish and crustaceans but also turtles and seabirds threatened by the use of mobile bottom gear (trawls, dredges, longlines, pots ..) in areas that should cover up to 30% of European waters in 2030.

>> READ ALSO – "They will kill the sector": in Boulogne-sur-Mer, fishermen want to alert on their situation

Ban would have put "7,000 ships" at risk

Considered too distant by some environmental NGOs, it has aroused an outcry from fishermen in France, but also in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Denmark. The European Alliance for Bottom Fisheries (EBFA) estimated that the ban would have "endangered 7,000 vessels" or "25% of the (fishing) volumes landed and 38% of the total revenues of the European fleet".

In France, according to the National Fisheries Committee, such a measure would have eliminated nearly "a third of the fleet", or 4,000 fishermen embarked on 1,200 vessels. He had called Thursday and Friday for an unprecedented operation "dead sector", with boats remained docked and fish processing auctions and processing operations at a standstill, to demand answers to the fishing crisis, especially on this subject.

Strong demonstrations took place in Rennes or Lorient as well as blockades in Boulogne-sur-Mer to protest against a regulation accused of "banishing trades, traditions, economies, and finally human heritage". A fire destroyed part of the building of the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) in Brest on Friday.

The Secretary of State for Fisheries in solidarity with fishermen

On Sunday, the Secretary of State for Fisheries Hervé Berville, who had publicly declared himself "in solidarity" with fishermen, met in Brussels the European Commissioner for the Environment and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevicius, accompanied by senior representatives of French fisheries. The Commissioner "confirmed" that he would not impose such a ban "neither in 2024 nor in 2030", said Hervé Berville in a statement after the meeting.

The action plan for sustainable fisheries presented by the Commission "only proposes guidelines to the Member States", recalled the Commissioner quoted by the French Minister who stressed that "the France will not be forced to take prohibition measures".

In a letter sent to all fishermen in France on Friday, the Secretary of State had welcomed the efforts they have been making for several years in favor of a "binding and demanding management" of fisheries resources. "More than half" of fish stocks are exploited sustainably today in France compared to "only 11%" 20 years ago, he noted.

"Punishing good students"

With Sunday's announcement, "there is a real consideration of the efforts undertaken for years by French fishermen for the protection of biodiversity and marine ecosystems," Olivier Le Nézet, president of the National Fisheries Committee, told AFP by phone. According to him, these bans would have amounted to "punishing good students". "The France has increased the number of protected areas, reduced fishing in some areas and promoted species renewal. In the Iroise Sea, the lobster that had disappeared, has returned, the scallop is abundant everywhere, "he had recalled recently.

To justify its measure, the Commission had argued that, of the 12% of marine protected areas currently in Community waters, only 1% are "strictly protected". She asked EU member countries to each draw up their own roadmap by March 2024. The EU has already banned trawling below 2016 metres since 800, to help restore vulnerable seabed ecosystems.

When the plan was presented, environmental NGOs expressed concern about the slow pace of the timetable, noting that the EU would tolerate bottom trawling for another seven years in protected areas. "What will you say to your children when the oceans are dead?" said environmental media defender Hugo Clément in a tweet to the French Secretary of State. "Your fight should be to avoid the collapse of biodiversity and stop the slaughter of dolphins, by banning industrial fishing and financially supporting artisanal fishermen to reduce the pressure on marine resources," he insisted.