“Factory” trawlers worry artisanal fishermen in the Channel: “They plunder the resource”

At the end of the year, herring arrived in the Channel and the North Sea. An essential resource for the economic health of artisanal fishermen already suffering in Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk. But the profession faces giant trawlers which harvest fish en masse. A new standoff between traditional fishing and industrial fishing.

Every day, he scans the boats in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais. Eye on the transponder, Mathieu Pinto has a worried face. “They hunt fish“, worries the Boulogne fisherman. “If they find the bench, the bench has no chance“.

“Ils“, these are the ships whose names come up regularly at the end of the year on its screen. Zeeland, Africa, Prins Bernard, Scombrus… Giant trawlers from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany to track herring. These boats impress with their size. The largest are more than 140 meters long. They fish with a pelagic trawl. A huge net is towed in open water. “Last time, there was one that was less than 10 kilometers from the coast“. Once the net is full, some of these vessels even use a vacuum cleaner. Deployed directly at the bottom of the net, this black hose swallows the tons of fish to send them directly to the hold.

They are not trying to preserve the species. They come for two or three months to fill the holds.

Mathieu Pinto, fisherman

Everything contrasts these enormous ships with the flotilla of 12-meter boats stationed in Boulogne. “We place the net, it is not dragged. We have dormant fishing gear, it's the fish that gets into it. A towed fishing gear will hunt the fish. The fish goes in and is compressed until the trawl is full to bursting.”

In this industrial fishing, sorting is done once the net has been reassembled. Unwanted fish are thrown back dead into the sea. Sometimes, they are small fish that end up in the nets, before they can even reproduce.

Artisanal fishing and industrial fishing clearly do not play in the same league. When a small boat catches 500 kilos of herring in a day, a large trawler can take up to 400 tonnes. “They plunder the resource“, continues Mathieu Pinto. “They are not trying to preserve the species. They come for two or three months to fill the holds“. Consequence: the price of herring plummets.”It goes from 1.50 euros per kilo of fish to 20 cents. They are destroying the market. They are looking for quantity, not quality. Not to mention that this herring caught by boats from elsewhere does not keep the factories on land working.

For the Pintos, fishing is a family affair. Stéphane Pinto, Mathieu's uncle, was a fisherman in Boulogne-sur-Mer for a long time. He is today vice-president of the Regional Committee for Maritime Fisheries and Marine Farming in Hauts de France. On the coast, he is particularly known for having led the fight against electric fishing. A fight won in 2019.

These huge boats, they call them “predators” : “What is happening in the Channel with these large trawlers will further impoverish the coastal economic sector. For 15 years, the ports have been empty. The auctions have closed their doors, the tidy stores… The economy of small 12 meter boats has collapsed.”. In 2012, there were still around a hundred gillnetters between Dunkirk and Boulogne. There are only 25 left today. “The port of Boulogne has always been considered the leading fishing port in France. Everything that is happening is erasing this past.”.

The port of Boulogne has always been considered the leading fishing port in France. Everything that is happening is erasing this past.

Stéphane Pinto, vice-president of CRPMEM Hauts de France

For Stéphane Pinto, there is no question of banning these boats. “We are not creating a war between fishermen, quite the contrary”. What he refuses is to see them fishing so close to the coast. “We notably saw the Zeeland which was fishing eight or nine miles from the coast. Such vessels are made to go fishing in the Far North, that is their place.” The vice-president of the Fisheries Committee denounces total opacity regarding the distribution of quotas. According to him, the common fisheries policy needs “a big cleaning“.

Environmental associations are also strongly mobilized to denounce the presence of these extraordinary boats. Especially since it is not uncommon to find several factory boats in the same sector: “They fish in groups and in masses”deplores François Chartier in charge of the ocean campaign for Greenpeace. Last weekend, six boats were working in the same area: “Six at once, we have never seen so many at once. There is a business strategy to achieve quotas as quickly as possible. The operating cost is less important.”

More seriously, these vessels fish in marine protected areas and do so legally. There are three of these on the northern coast, these zones are supposed to allow the protection of particularly vulnerable species: fish, birds or mammals. They also make it possible to preserve habitats that are particularly important for the reproduction of species.

But why is industrial fishing authorized in protected areas? “That’s a bit of the question we’re asking ourselves and that’s why we’re here.“The Greenpeace boat actually came to observe the work of the giant trawlers to document and better denounce the inconsistencies in French and European policies.”We have marine protected areas here that do not protect“.

The NGO Bloom and Greenpeace are therefore not asking the authorities for more protected areas, but for stricter rules in already existing areas. “More than 30% of metropolitan marine areas are protected. So on paper we are good. Except that, when we look at the levels of protection in detail, we are completely different from what the scientists say. In fact, we have barely 1% of French seas that are truly protected.“.

The organizations denounce a form of “marketing” : “France does not respect European obligations. (…) This is in contradiction with what the CRNS and the International Union for Conservation of Nature recommend“.

A policy which isolates France on the international scene according to Greenpeace. But here it is with its back against the wall since it will host the United Nations conference on the oceans in Nice in 2025. Fishermen and environmental defenders alike intend to take advantage of the opportunity to hammer home their messages.

Until then, the factory trawlers will continue their journey… and their intensive fishing.