for the National Fisheries Committee, this is not how “we will find solutions”

“It is not by banning fishing that we will find technological solutions to avoid accidental captures” of cetaceans, said Thursday January 18 on franceinfo Olivier Le Nezet, president of the National Committee for Maritime Fisheries. French and foreign fishermen from the Bay of Biscay are preparing to stay in port for a month from Monday January 22. The goal: to preserve cetaceans and especially dolphins.

“Ubuesque” management

“It is not by blocking the boats along the quay that we will be able to find solutions which will make it possible to avoid these captures which – I remind you – are minimal”, defends Olivier Le Nezet. He claims that reports “highlight that there is no urgency to put in place fishing ban measures” since “the stock and population of cetaceans in the Bay of Biscay have been stable for 20 years“. He therefore indicates that the Committee will table “appeals on the merits” against this ban.

Regarding compensation for professionals in the sector, the chairman of the Committee wants to be reassuring: “The Council of State has rendered a judgment which requires the state to compensate professionals”. However, even if the producers will be well paid, Olivier Le Nezet is thinking of the entire sector: “Our wish is also to protect marketing and the downstream sector to avoid a collapse of the entire sector”. “The State must respond”, according to him. Olivier Le Nezet also finds “ubuesque” that fisheries management “be done before the courts”.

The ban does not affect all fishermen

The president of the National Fisheries Committee speaks of“major impact” for fishing professionals obliged to stay in port for a month. However, he recalls that this ban does not concern all fishermen and not all activities, only those which use “risky fishing gear defined by the Council of State”. “There will always be bottom trawlers fishing or longliners or longliners.”

To preserve the dolphins, French and foreign fishermen from the Bay of Biscay, from Finistère to the Spanish border, will be confined to the port for a month from Monday January 22 until February 20. A first since 1945. This measure aims to reduce the deaths of small cetaceans accidentally caught in nets.