Annick Girardin came to meet the fishermen of Arcachon this Friday afternoon. For two hours, the Minister of the Sea detailed the aid measures planned to compensate for the drop in sole fishing quotas. Last December Europe decided a 37% reduction in harvesting of this speciesa hard metric for anglers to swallow.
The drop in quotas could also harm the Arcachon auction, which makes half of its turnover from the sale of sole (360 tonnes sold last year). It’s a blow for the auction but the minister promises compensation. Impossible to directly finance the loss of turnover, Europe prohibits it, but the State promises an envelope of 14 million euros to renovate the auctions of France and Arcachon should take priority.
Fishermen will be compensated for 70 to 85% of the loss of their turnover over a period of 3 months. At the end of the meeting with the Minister, Olivier Mercier shipowner in Arcachon, remains on his guard: “we are still working on technical details for the release of funds, we still don’t know what we are going to receive, it’s still unclear!”