This is the end of the conflict with the fishermen. The National Fisheries Committee announced on Monday “the end of the “dead line” movement”, which has paralyzed the sector in recent days, considering that it has obtained guarantees on the continuation of bottom trawling and new consultations on the protection plan for “cetaceans”. “This movement will have been trying for everyone (…) I believe that our efforts have paid off and that the Commission [européenne] and the government have given us satisfaction on the two main points, ”said the president of the national committee, Olivier Le Nézet, in a press release.
The national committee believes that it has obtained “assurances” from the European Commissioner for the Environment and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevicius, during a meeting on Sunday in Brussels where representatives of fishermen went with the Secretary of State for the Sea Hervé Berville. At the end of this meeting, the French government announced that the European commissioner had “reaffirmed” that no “ban on bottom gear in marine protected areas” would be imposed on member states.
Several points of contention
The measure announced on February 21 as part of a more general European 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, traps, etc.) in areas that should cover up to 30% of European waters in 2030. Considered too far away by some environmental NGOs, it had aroused an outcry from fishermen in France, where it would threaten “nearly a third of the fleet” according to the national committee.
Second point crystallizing the anger of the fishermen: the recent decision of the Council of State imposing within six months the closure of certain fishing areas in the Atlantic in order to preserve the dolphins, whose strandings have multiplied in the Bay of Biscay.
The committee assured AFP that it had obtained from the government “the guarantee that there would be an overhaul of this cetacean plan”, to work on the “coherence of the various measures”: geolocation of ships, installation of cameras and repellent devices, as well as the establishment of “spatiotemporal closures” of certain fishing areas. The committee also indicates that “the State has made a commitment” to pay “overdue economic aid” within four weeks, in particular those related to temporary suspensions of sole fishing and fuel aid.