A French court has upheld an appeal by small-scale fishermen’s organisations in Brittany that hinges on the definition of a four-door trawl rig as demersal or pelagic fishing.
The Rennes Administrative Court suspended a prefectural decree approving a resolution by the CRPMEM Bretagne (Brittany Regional Fisheries Committee) that would more strictly regulate the use of four-door trawling in the coastal strip of southern Finistère.
The dispute came to a head as small-scale fishermen found larger vessels encroaching on coastal grounds with high-lift four-door trawls classified as demersal gear – while small-scale fishermen’s associations Ligneurs de la pointe de Bretagne and Pêche Avenir Cap Sizun contend that this is in fact pelagic trawl gear.
‘Two of these trawlers have repeatedly ventured into the rocky areas of Audierne Bay in recent weeks, systematically plundering the fishing grounds that the artisanal fishermen of Audierne port depend on,’ a representative of Ligneurs de la pointe de Bretagne stated, commenting that hundreds of kilos of their catches had to be disposed of, as fish remained unsold.
CRPMEM Bretagne intends to take the case to a higher level, stating that the court’s decision ‘essentially challenges the ministerial decree of 3rd May 1977, which regulates pelagic trawling, a decree considered contrary to the definitions given to this fishing gear by European regulations.’
‘The fragile balances built over nearly 50 years for the sustainable management of fisheries risk being destabilised in the long term,’ a CRPMEM Bretagne representative commented.
‘At the same time, the work of the Breton fisheries committees intended to bring about peaceful co-existence in the coastal zone is being severely undermined. This is why it was decided to file an appeal with the Council of State. The fisheries committees sincerely regret that a fundamental lack of a spirit of compromise has ultimately led to the courts.’
