Charles Guyard / Photo credits: Maylis Rolland / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 8:16 a.m., February 18, 2024

Fishermen will be able to return to sea from early Wednesday morning. Since January 22, boats over eight meters have been banned from casting their nets in the Bay of Biscay to protect dolphins. At La Turballe, in Loire-Atlantique, there is impatience on the pontoons, although there are questions about the compensation promised but not received.

“We're going to start sending two or three messages to the guys and hope that everyone is there.” They were impatiently waiting for this moment. Fishermen will be able to return to sea on Wednesday morning in the Bay of Biscay. Like half a thousand French boats stuck on land since January 22, to protect dolphins in the Bay of Biscay, that of Romain Jouan is also preparing to leave. 

“I spent no less than 25,000 euros without anything coming in”

“It’s a mixture of excitement and stress because we’ll have to prepare all the equipment,” he explains. The diesel fuel tanks have already been filled but “we will have to do all the refueling”. Since then, the phone hasn't stopped ringing: "It's phone call after phone call to find out what fishing we're going to do, find out what the news is from the sea. We'll be in the starting blocks to work from the first hour Wednesday morning".  

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No time to lose, because for almost a month, fishermen have had to live on their own reserves. "We are told that we will receive something. For the moment, there is nothing certified, I have no document to show that we were eligible for the shutdown and to know what we are going to receive in terms of compensation. A significant sum for its cash flow, because it was necessary to continue repaying the loan and paying the employees: “I paid no less than 25,000 euros without anything coming in.” 

A cash flow that could still suffer. Because with all the fishermen returning to the Bay of Biscay at the same time, the auctions will find themselves with large quantities of fish at once and prices could therefore collapse.