France’s Secretary of State for the Sea Hervé Berville has announced during a meeting with industry figures that fuel aid is to be continued, carrying this forward to 15th May, althoguh this will gradually be reduced over the coming months.
He took the opportunity to examine the situation facing the French fishing sector, and to assess the state of the Individual Support Plan initiated to address the problems for the sector resulting from Brexit.
Of the total number of 2860 vessels in the regions concerned, 164 applications were made, including some from non-eligible vessels which were removed from the list.
There are 90 vessels on the primarly list for decommissioning, and 34 on a secondary list. The plan applies to roughly 3% of the fleet in the regions concerned, and the Ministry points out that in some European countries decommissioning is taking out up to a third of fishing capacity.
90 vessels were retained on the main list and 34 vessels on the supplementary list. Among the requests submitted, 40 vessels were therefore declared ineligible (i.e. a quarter of the requests received). This plan thus represents 3% of the fleet in the regions concerned, where it was able to represent up to 30% in other European countries. Eligibility criteria are based on based on dependence on access to UK waters and stocks, and on whether or not vessels have been granted a license to fish inside UK waters.
The European Commission has been informed by the Frenmch authorities of the maximum financial input of €65 million, which is drawn from the Brexit adjustment reserve.
‘Faced with the crises that the fishing sector is going through with Brexit, Covid and energy costs, the State has responded with massive support of nearly €200 million – and continues to do so with the extension of fuel aid for fishermen until 15th May, with a review clause at that deadline,’ Hervé Berville said.
‘The Individual Support Plan developed with the sector is a plan which seeks to maintain balance in the territories. Over the next few months, we will build the future of French fishing, to meet the challenges of the strengthened structure of the sector and the decarbonisation of the maritime sector.’
