2023-07-27 17:26:38
By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted yesterday at 4:49 PM, Updated yesterday at 5:26 PM
The project, which aroused numerous protests, gave rise to a petition demanding the end of the project, signed nearly 2,500 times. James / stock.adobe.com
The decision was made on the basis of several conflicting reports on the project, but has drawn widespread protest.
A mega-fish farm project off Golfe-Juan, on the Côte d’Azur, strongly contested by fishermen and environmental defenders, has been definitively validated by the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture, a-t- we learned Thursday from the latter and the promoter.
After more than 24 months of instruction, Aquafrais Cannes “is enthusiastic to announce that its modernization project has been validated by the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture“, indicated the company to AFP. A prefectural decreeenvironmental permit“for the production of”sea bass or sea bass and sea bream”, consulted by AFP, was taken on July 24.
This order was taken despitean unfavorable opinionmade in April following a public inquiry. Another organization, the Regional Mission of Environmental Authority (MRAE) judged for its part in October that the project offered “all the guarantees for the environment, because it is far from the Posidonia meadows” and located in a perimeter “favourable» to aquaculture. This project, which aims to double current local production, is considered “beneficial for an entire sector, and even more so for Côte d’Azur and French professionals who will benefit from a wider offer in short circuits, and of superior quality, in a market dominated at more than 85% by Greek and Turkish importsadded Aquafrais in a statement.
Read alsoAquaculture: growth halted by the pandemic
Many protests
The family business, created 35 years ago and which already operates several farms on this part of the coast and produces 570 tonnes of fish per year, plans to increase its production to 1,200 tonnes by 2026. To do this, it will bring together three existing scattered concessions and will acquire a unique structure of 24,000 square meters off Vallauris-Golfe-Juan. Two dealerships in Cap d’Antibes and Théoule-sur-Mer will be closed.
The company, which generates a turnover of approximately 5 million euros per year, plans to investseveral million euros, which will make it possible to increase the production of noble fish in France (gilthead sea bream and sea bass), to create 20 jobs in addition to the 35 existing ones, in compliance with environmental standards“, according to its general manager Jérôme Hémar.
The project has sparked strong protests from professional fishermen and boaters who last February organized a parade of around a hundred boats between the ports of Golfe-Juan and Cannes, to denounce its impact on the environment. and the dangers it would represent for navigation. The professional fishermen of Golfe-Juan, who are half a dozen, were also up in arms, denouncing aquaculture “industrialand deploring, according to them, the loss of a 12-hectare working area. A petition against the project had collected more than 2,500 signatures and received the support of some elected officials.
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