ENVIRONMENT Minister Steve Luce has rejected accusations from France that creating protected zones in Jersey’s territorial waters next year will “kill” commercial fishing in Granville and Carteret.
Last week, around 30 French fishers protested outside Granville’s fish market to reject measures proposed by Jersey to ban dredging and trawling in several areas between the Island and the Cotentin peninsula.
One fisher was reported to have gone on hunger strike in opposition to the restrictions.
French media quoted one French skipper as saying: “We’re going to lose everything. If the state doesn’t do anything, we’re all dead.”
Emmanuelle Marie, the fisher who had reportedly started a hunger strike, added: “We are exhausted and completely discouraged. We have no vision for the future, we don’t know what will become of us tomorrow.”
The fishers, who were standing beside a banner which read ‘Jersey closes, the state abandons’ were protesting about plans by Jersey to implement its Marine Spatial Plan, which was unanimously voted in by the States Assembly last October.
The protected areas will come into force next September.
But the claims that their introduction will sound the death knell of commercial fishing in Jersey’s neighbouring French ports have been rejected by Deputy Luce.
He said: “Over the last two years, there have been regular discussions between the Government of Jersey and all fishing communities and other groups over plans to protect Jersey’s marine environment to ensure that it can continue to be used sustainably.
“The marine area which we intend to protect from harmful fishing practices represents less than a quarter of the total area available to the dredging and trawling fleet of fishers who operate out of Granville and other ports. By closing this area to these fisheries, we will make it more available to lower impact potters, netters and divers.”
He added: “We are simply asking all fishing communities to spend the next year preparing for changes which will promote sustainable fishing practices by protecting habitats which provide nursery and spawning grounds, enabling stocks to recover and to be used sustainably in the long term.
“The concerns of the fishing fleet are recognised and in line with the Marine Spatial Plan, an Economic Impact Assessment is being prepared to assess the positive and negative changes brought by the Marine Spatial Plan for the various fisheries and other marine users.”
Deputy Luce will no doubt be hoping that French fishers’ objections to Jersey’s new rules do not escalate as they did in May 2021, when almost 100 French boats sailed to the Harbour to protest against a new licensing regime that emerged out of the UK post-Brexit trade agreement with the European Union.
This replaced the Bay of Granville Agreement, which many in Jersey thought was overly advantageous to the French.
The French media last week reported that around 25 boats from Granville and three from Carteret would be affected by the new protected zones.
It quoted Julien Mouton, a fisherman from Gouville-sur-Mer and elected member of the regional fisheries committee, as saying: “The goal today is to meet with [President] Emmanuel Macron soon, to find out what he thinks of artisanal fishing and if he intends to support it.
“This is because, unfortunately, we’ve already met with marine ministers in Granville, who are always making great announcements, but we continue to lose rights. All we want is to work.”
Pictured top: French boats protesting off Jersey in May 2021.
