No boat at sea, no fish on the stalls: French fishermen are mobilizing from Thursday 30 to Friday 31 March. For the first time, the National Fisheries Committee is launching a “dead day” operation. The whole sector is concerned, from the fillet to the consumer.
No more fishing, no more boat at sea, closed doors for auctions and no fish on the stalls. The fishermen denounce the Brussels project which aims to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas (MPAs) by 2030. They also denounce a recent decision by the Council of State which imposed the closure of certain fishing areas in Atlantic in order to preserve the dolphins. Fishermen believe that with such a pace, French fishing will one day disappear in favor of imported fish. For Olivier Leprêtre, President of the Hauts-de-France Regional Fisheries Committee, “ it is indeed the action plan of the European Commission which sets fire to the powder, but there are many, many subjects. If we take the Bay of Biscay, there are dolphins, the closures of fishing areas for dolphins, there are a lot of them. And fishermen no longer support anything that comes out of the European Commission. »
No environmental measures in China
” What’s morelaunches Olivier Leprêtre, beyond affecting the economic environment, it will benefit extra-community imports that come from countries, China or elsewhere, where there are no environmental measures. If I take the port of Boulogne, the fishermen, it is not even that they are in danger, it is the certain death of the fishermen and of the sector as a whole. For too many years, the opinions of fishermen have not been taken into account and it is high time that fishermen were integrated into the management of fisheries at European level. »
” More imports »
Hélène Keraudren, general delegate of France fishing sector, is of the same opinion: “ Indeed, if we reduce the share of French fishing products in the supply of stores and fishmongers, it is to have a little more imported products to meet consumer demand. However, today, what we say at the level of the sector, is that defending French fishing means something for many reasons. This means something because it is a strong social right which protects seafarers, because these are activities which are subject to demanding environmental constraints and which are respected by seafarers, because these are permanent efforts by these sailors and the industry to engage with scientists to improve their practice. So supporting French fishing really means something “.
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