The vice-president of the national fisheries committee, Serge Larzabal, deplores on France Bleu the end of fuel aid granted to the sector since March 2022. He calls for “a real public policy for the sector”.
The end of fuel aid for fishermen poses the risk that “if all the big trawlers stop, the entire industry [pêche] which collapses”, warns Serge Larzabal, vice-president of the national fisheries committee, guest on the show Ma France on France Bleu on Thursday September 21. The national fishing conferences are being held on Thursday September 21 and Friday September 22 in Nice. The annual event opened in a tense context, with fishermen denouncing, with the end of diesel aid, the “disengagement” of the state of a sector “on the edge of the abyss”.
>> “There are going to be deaths”: fishermen in turmoil after the announced end of fuel aid
The Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville, confirmed on Saturday September 16 the end on October 15 of the aid of 20 cents (excluding tax) per liter of diesel. This boost was put in place in March 2022 and then extended several times to help fishermen cope with the surge in diesel after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “We considered it an affront for our minister to make statements in the press on the end of aid, when he did not come to see us. So we are waiting for clear explanations from him”declares Serge Larzabal.
“A new blow”
Currently, the liter of diesel for fishing oscillates “between 0.89 and 0.92 euros per liter in the main port areas”. The end of state aid is “a new blow. To our knowledge, the war in Ukraine is not over, inflation is galloping, fuel prices are rising, and the fisherman is totally wiped out since in addition to the cost of fuel, all the other raw material costs increased”he adds.
According to the vice-president of the national fisheries committee, the fisherman has no way of passing this cost on to his fish sales: “We are on auctions, so we are constrained by the international fish market, we cannot pass on the increase in fuel.”
“We need a real public policy for the sector, not to be kept on life support, but to take the time to see what energy transition we can make since everything we have proposed is dismissed out of hand by the European Commission, by community constraints.”
Serge Larzabal, vice-president of the national fisheries committeeat France Bleu
“1 job at sea is 4 jobs on landcontinues Serge Larzabal. If all the big trawlers stop, more than 70% in the big ports and the entire industry collapses. All mainland and overseas territories are affected and it will be a real cataclysm.”. The Secretary of State for the Sea is expected on Friday September 22 in Nice at the fishing conference.