It is a blow for the managers of the Cannes company Aquafrais, but not a halt, they underline. Criticized and considered “pharaonic” by fishermen and elected officials, the project to extend their aquaculture farm aimed at doubling fish production received an “unfavorable opinion” from the commissioner responsible for evaluating it.
“This project seems to me to be incompatible with the tourist vocation of the bay” and “I don’t think [qu’il] can be part of an ecological transition process”, she writes in particular in a report that 20 minutes was able to consult. Its conclusions will be useful to the maritime prefect of the Mediterranean to issue an authorization or not, within a few months, but will only be “one of the elements of decision”, supports the company.
The “environmental consequences” in question
Aquafrais Cannes, which currently operates five breeding sites on the Alpes-Maritimes coast between Antibes and Théoule-sur-Mer for an annual production of 570 tonnes of sea bass and sea bream, wishes to rationalize its equipment. Its project plans to close three of its farms, while acquiring a new structure of 24,000 m2 off Vallauris-Golfe-Juan. Equipment that would allow it to reach 1,200 tons annually.
Kevin Luciano, the various right-wing mayor of this town, but also the EELV MEP Caroline Roose, the senator Philippe Tabarot and the deputy Éric Pauget (both LR) notably spoke out against this new establishment alongside local fishermen. Everyone is worried about the economic impact of such an extension “on artisanal fishing” but above all its “environmental consequences”.
In her conclusions, the investigating commissioner regrets that “the answers [d’Aquafrais] questions about pollution, the effects of climate change, the pressure of the human environment on the Gulf, the presence of a fragile environment theoretically protected, but already overexposed, leave something to be desired”. “The effects of the new aquaculture farm on human health do not seem to me to have been studied enough”, she writes in particular, referring to the antibiotics which could be used but also to “the dispersion of faeces” from fish and possible “discharges bacteriological”.
“Aquaculture conveys a lot of false images”
In a reply sent to 20 minutes, the company said it was “surprised” that the report “gave so much weight to the statements and so little to the scientific answers of Aquafrais Cannes to legitimate questions”. “On the quality of the water, we provided analyzes carried out by independent laboratories in the summer of 2022 and there is no mention of this in the survey. The elements quoted are the opposite of what was measured”, supports the director Jérôme Hemar.
According to him, “the survey transcribes the opinion of the public on the project, but aquaculture is a subject that is not well known to the general public and conveys many false images”. “The result of the survey is therefore a reflection of the image of aquaculture in France”, he continues.
Finally, he recalls that in October 2022, “the independent environmental authority, the MRAE [Mission régionale d’autorité environnementale] “, had “issued a favorable opinion” on which the maritime prefect of the Mediterranean will also be able to “rely”. Its decision is expected in the coming months, a priori before the end of the year.