“We’re fed up. Not only do we not have the same standards, but above all they come to plunder the resource in front of us! » Like this Calvados shipowner, many Norman fishermen are angry. This weekend, an infringement reignited the war that the French and British have been waging for more than a decade, with the former accusing the latter of not aligning themselves with French fishing practices. Six years after the agreement reached between the fishermen of the two coasts of the Channel, a new episode, this Saturday 26 October 2024: the French inspectors of maritime affairs checked, off the coast of Ouistreham, the Star of Jura, a 19-year-old British fishing vessel meters. And they were surprised to discover 16 tonnes of scallops on board… of which more than 900kg did not reach the minimum legal size!
Fine of up to 15 thousand euros
The vessel was immediately diverted to the port of Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), at the same time fueling the resentment of Norman fishermen who denounce “a very penalizing difference in fishing rules. The English can fish for longer, with less restrictive standards and equipment. And we must observe them without blinking an eye, plundering the deposits and threatening the resource for years to come”, insists Pascal, a fisherman from Calvados.
“It’s actually a little more complex,” explains Dimitri Rogoff, president of the Normandy regional fisheries committee. “This English boat, for example, used much less selective fishing gear than the French ships. But there is nothing illegal. What the crew is accused of is not having returned shell casings that did not reach the minimum legal size, in this case 11 centimeters in diameter, back into the water. » Because the smaller shells do not have time to grow and reproduce, which is detrimental to the correct conservation of the species.
The captain of the British ship risks a fine of up to 15 thousand euros and the seizure of all his cargo.
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