Already in charge of the Sea, Hervé Berville has seen his portfolio expanded. If he promises to tackle his new task with determination, his defense of fishermen has until now sometimes earned him the wrath of defenders of biodiversity.
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This is one of the consequences of Gabriel Attal’s promise, more or less kept, to appoint a tighter team: the same Secretary of State is now responsible for both the Sea and Biodiversity, announced the ‘Elysée, Thursday February 8. Previously, Biodiversity was entrusted (intermittently) to dedicated State Secretaries: Barbara Pompili, Bérangère Abba then Sarah El Haïry. The file was, this time, assigned to Hervé Berville, already in charge of the Sea in the previous government of Elisabeth Borne. And it is with this double hat that he participated, Wednesday February 14, in the first Council of Ministers of the government of Gabriel Attal in full.
Another development: formerly reporting directly to the Prime Minister, this State Secretariat is now placed under the supervision of the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu. Adjustments for which the latter “has pushed”, according to a government source at franceinfo. But they raise questions, especially since they are pushing Biodiversity to the last place in the protocol order, as mentioned by the SNE-FSU, a union of the French Biodiversity Office, on. What coherence is there in linking these two files? Are the interests of both compatible?
A “contradiction” between industrial fishing and the environment
When he was still only Elisabeth Borne’s Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville certainly supported a moratorium in July 2023 against deep water mining, warning of “the risk of irreversible damage to our marine ecosystems“. But he opposed, a few months earlier, in March, a European measure aimed at banning trawling in marine protected areas. “This plan would condemn French artisanal fishing and cause it to disappear. Not in ten years, tomorrow”he declared to the Assembly, cited by The world.
“For two years, Hervé Berville pursued a policy of burying his head in the sand, being in a relationship of dependence with the industrial fishing lobby”, criticizes the Bloom association to franceinfo, which filed a complaint against the Secretary of State, which was dismissed in May. Seeing the latter being responsible for the protection of biodiversity, while retaining its former functions, also questions the ecologist Philippe Grandcolas, research director at the CNRS, for whom the two missions “can be antagonistic” :
“How will Hervé Berville manage to resolve the contradiction between industrial fishing and the defense of the environment? There may be conflicts of interest.”
Philippe Grandcolas, ecologistat franceinfo
After his appointment, Hervé Berville ensured on it was “determined to continue the work undertaken alongside Christophe Béchu to protect our oceans, preserve biodiversity and act in all our territories to succeed in the ecological transition”.
The fear of relegating biodiversity “to the background”
The protection of biodiversity is a major challenge: in France, more than 2,400 species are threatened with extinction, analyzed the French committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. But seeing biodiversity lose its autonomous portfolio, researchers and ecologists are wondering about the place reserved for this fight in government policies. “We can wonder what the future of the National Biodiversity Strategy 2030 will be in this future State Secretariat, knowing that one of its flagship measures, the Ecophyto plan, has been put on hold”alerts Philippe Grandcolas.
“The only signal it sends is that it did not seem possible to put ‘Biodiversity’ lower in the organization chart. We should make the protection of biodiversity a major subject, so that it is not so down and attached to another topic”, deplores the environmentalist deputy Julien Bayou. The president of the environmental group in the Assembly, Cyrielle Chatelain, shares her concern:
“I have no confidence in this government to address biodiversity issues. Grouping it with the sea could make sense. Here, I fear that it will put it in the background.”
Cyrielle Chatelain, president of the environmental group in the National Assemblyat franceinfo
Even in the presidential camp, while supporting the executive’s choice, we recognize that there is a way to go. “It will indeed be necessary for Hervé Berville to open up a little more to these issues”slips Jean-Marc Zulesi, Renaissance deputy and president of the committee on sustainable development and regional planning at the Assembly. “This grouping is logical, particularly in view of the Year of the Oceans planned for 2025”justifies the cabinet of Christophe Béchu, contacted by franceinfo, pointing the finger “the obvious link between biodiversity and the sea”. “It is precisely in these themes, where there can be confrontations, that it makes sense to converge”adds another Renaissance deputy.
The hope of “more coherence” between these policies
The NGOs also want to give the Secretary of State a chance. “The two subjects are not contradictory. I think that with this grouping, Hervé Berville has a political mandate and the responsibility to finally reconcile the issues of biodiversity and the sea”hopes Swann Bommier, advocacy manager at Bloom. “We find it relevant to bring together the question of the sea and biodiversity”agrees Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, who calls for “more balance” between economic and environmental considerations.
“These issues are linked and the challenge is colossal. We hope that this will allow more consistency and strengthening of the team on these issues.”
Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd Franceat franceinfo
For Philippe Grandcolas, bringing these two portfolios together can have two effects: building a stronger and transversal ecological transition, with a strategy combining biodiversity, food or even energy; or, conversely, make the protection of biodiversity invisible. “Given government guidelines, we may fear that the second orientation is more likely”regrets the ecologist. “There is no abandoning the subject of biodiversity”, responds the office of the Minister of Ecological Transition, for whom bringing together the two subjects is above all “a question of efficiency in a tight government”.