2023-09-22 17:49:30
At the National Fisheries Conference in Nice, Secretary of State for the Sea Hervé Berville announced an energy transition plan on Friday morning. Its objective is to adapt very fuel-intensive fishing vessels through three key areas: “the greening of maritime fuel”, “reducing dependence on oil” et “adapting port infrastructure”.
However, these government announcements were not enough to calm the fury of the stormy French fishing sector. The fishermen present on site left the room during the presentation of the plan. “A gesture of protest, because we are not satisfied”assumes Olivier le Nezet, president of the National Fisheries Committee.
Crackdown on subsidies
Reason for the discord: an interview with Hervé Berville given to Ouest-France on September 16. The Secretary of State for the Sea announced the abolition on October 15 of aid for diesel – financial support from the government of 20 cents per liter, a measure put in place following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to preserve the fishermen with skyrocketing fuel costs.
“We cannot extend this aid, because the European regime which allowed it ends this yearjustifies Hervé Berville. We were very clear on the fact that private actors needed to take over”. Renewed several times, these financial support measures now amount to 75 million euros for the government.
“A cataclysm which will be the end of the French fishing industry”
Not enough to convince the fishing industry. “This sector is at the end of its life”, warns Olivier Le Nezet, urging Hervé Berville to “assume a cataclysm which will be the end of the French fishing industry”. The announcement comes in a delicate context. The price of diesel continues to rise, with a liter costing 25 cents more than at the beginning of July, according to calculations made by the data cell of the Figaro. Olivier Le Nezet did not hesitate to qualify the government’s announcement as ” treason “.
However, the deadline was known to the French fishing sector. “Everyone was perfectly aware that the 20 cent fuel aid would stop on October 15, due to European rules” the Secretary of State for the Sea was annoyed on Friday. To contain the anger of the sector, he also announced a temporary reduction of 13 cents per liter, financed by TotalEnergies.
“Once again, the French fishing sector is trying to force the hand of the French state, For her part, Valérie Le Brenne, who follows the issues of fishing subsidies in France for the Bloom association, fears. He is always demanding more public money, instead of rethinking his model, made up of trawlers dependent on diesel and therefore subject to the slightest fuel crisis…”.
However, as early as 2006, the Poseidon report (produced by the Center for Strategic Analysis and the General Secretariat of the Sea) warned “that a large part of the sector is no longer economically profitable, a situation aggravated by the constant increase in the cost of fuel”. The study even estimated that by preserving this model, the short and medium term viability of fishing companies would be threatened. Fears that the plan presented by the government this Friday finally seems to take into consideration.
The sea to drink for lobbies
“Since the 1990s, the sector has been accustomed to standoffs with successive governments, who buy social peace in the ports with a lot of subsidiesgauge Valérie Le Brenne. The discontent against the end of diesel aid, while the plan outlines a strategy to emancipate the diesel sector, is an additional coup on the part of the lobbies…”
Olivier Le Nezet claims to advocate for biofuels. But he maintains that in the short term, ” it’s necessarymaintain this aid of 20 cents per liter, otherwise the entire sector will disappear in the weeks to come”. And to already warn that the fishing sector is ready to take the lead on other subjects, in particular on the cost of electricity.
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