French fishermen protesting against a European Union project to restrict bottom fishing symbolically blocked the main French fishing port, Boulogne-sur-Mer, on Sunday evening, the prefecture and the regional fisheries committee said. Seven fishing boats enacted a blockade at the entrance to the port, the prefecture said.
The blockade is expected to last until Tuesday, the committee said.
Olivier Leprêtre, president of the Hauts-de-France regional fisheries committee told AFP the EU Commission’s plan “would be the death of the port of Boulogne”.
He pointed out that with such a measure only 20 percent of the waters of the Pas-de-Calais Strait would remain accessible to fishing.
Boulogne, with a turnover of €85million (£74.6million) in 2022, represents 5,000 direct and indirect jobs, and more than 80 percent of its production is provided by dredges, trawls, seines and other bottom gears, according to Mr Leprêtre.
“This plan is counterproductive, it risks destroying European fishing and favouring imports from areas where fishing is not regulated,” he added.
Last week, angry fishermen had already demonstrated in Lorient on Friday and in Rennes on Wednesday to protest against European regulations, administrative pressure and the high price of diesel.
President Emmanuel Macron assured the fishermen of his support on this issue at the end of February, while the industry is already facing the costly decarbonisation of its fleet.
Brussels has been accused of “organising the disappearance of the small-scale fishing industry” in France as a post-Brexit deal signed by Emmanuel Macron will force French fishermen’s catches out of their own markets to the advantage of British ones.
Last month, Emmanuel Macron’s government has agreed to open up the Breton fish markets to fish caught by British vessels, something that infuriated French right-wing politicians.
French MEP France Jamet denounced the agreement, approved by the EU, in a press release sent to her voters.
She said: “Two years after the conclusion of the laborious Brexit negotiations, it is with the complicity of the French government that Brussels is organising the disappearance of our small-scale fishing industry and our ports.
“Indeed, the prefecture of Finistère is planning to open up the Breton fish markets to fish caught by British vessels.
“The French industry will be even more vulnerable as the price of UK products is two to three times cheaper than that offered by our Breton fishermen.
“At the same time, instead of fighting to support the sustainability of the industry, the French government prefers to get out the chequebook to finance the scrapping of fishing vessels that cannot withstand the shock. Ninety deep-sea boats will be destroyed, including about thirty in the Finistère department.
“It is in Guilvinec, France’s leading small-scale fishing port, that the most fatal blow will be experienced, with an estimated loss of 20 percent of fish supplies to the auction, 125 unemployed sailors and 800 indirect jobs affected, from fishmongers to boat mechanics.”