The year 2025 will be crucial for the protection of the oceans and France stands as a champion of this cause. The third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 3) will be held in Nice next June. On January 6, Emmanuel Macron insisted on this « extremely important meeting » even announcing that he wanted to create a « IPCC of the oceans ». Behind the rhetoric and grandiose promises, the French state’s record on the ocean is in reality more of a disaster.
In any case, this is what the Citizen Coalition for the Protection of the Ocean firmly denounced on January 8. This brings together 147 ONG and international movements, including the Bloom association, which organized the press conference in Paris.
400,000 hours of trawling per year
« In its speeches and official communications, the French government boasts that more than 30 % of French waters are marine protected areas (AMP). In reality, by international standards, it is less than 0.1 % of waters in metropolitan areas that are truly protected. And again, it’s more like 0.05 % in the Atlantic and North Sea »denounces Swann Bommier, head of advocacy at Bloom.
In France, as throughout Europe, a marine area can be considered as « protected » while being open to bottom trawling, one of the most destructive fishing methods in the world. Only the « strict protection » completely prohibits fishing. A status granted in insignificant proportions, even though scientists are calling for real urgent protection 30 % of the oceans and that States have formally committed to reaching this figure by 2030, during the COP15 on biodiversity.
A fishing net belonging to the factory trawler “ Caroline », sailing under the Dutch flag in the marine protected area off the coast of Dunkirk, on November 26, 2024.
© Lorraine Turci / Greenpeace / AFP
A goal that seems particularly distant: France accounts for nearly 400,000 hours of trawling in its AMP every year, according to Bloom. The second highest level in Europe after Spain. « The government claims “French-style protection”, “on a case-by-case basis”, which is nothing but an imposture. We only protect territories with microconfetti to better protect, very effectively, industrial fishing. »deplores Claire Nouvian, the general director of Bloom.
To highlight this hypocrisy, the association launched a « trawling radar » of the AMP French. It must count the number of km² ravaged by trawlers in French waters in 2025, until the opening of Unoc 3 in Nice.
« Hypocrisy » from the French position
Not content with being a bad student, France is also putting obstacles in the way of its neighbors. Last March, the United Kingdom decided to extend the ban on bottom trawling to a still modest part of its marine protected areas, in line with international commitments made in particular during the COP15 on biodiversity.
The French government then undertook to sabotage British efforts, in the name of defending French fishing. Jean-Noël Barrot, then Minister Delegate for Europe, called on the European Commission to consider retaliatory measures for non-compliance with the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement (ACC) passed between the United Kingdom and the European Union. An informal meeting of European fisheries ministers was held immediately in Brussels, according to the Financial Times.
On the British side, the government said to itself « iron » of a decision based on scientific data, while local ocean defenders denounced « hypocrisy » of France, even though Emmanuel Macron had already announced that he wanted to make 2025 « the year of the oceans ». Same story on the scientific side: in 2023, the prestigious scientific journal Nature also addressed in its editorial the inconsistency between the speech and the actions of France in matters of ocean protection, worrying that « hypocrisy threatens the future of the world’s oceans ».
Another prosecution case: Bloom accuses the Brittany region of illegally financing the construction of new fishing vessels ; this type of public subsidy is prohibited by European rules. The Brittany Regional Council circumvented the ban by creating the Breizh Up fishing investment fund which could contribute to further developing overfishing, denounces theONG.
Read also: Fishing: Brittany tries to circumvent European regulations
A decision by the region which fits perfectly into its « road map » for 2027, which had been obtained Reporterre. This revealed a strong strategy for the deployment of industrial fishing, to the detriment of ecology and artisanal fishing. But for the president of the Brittany region, Loïg Chesnais-Girard, this strategy is on the contrary part of the development of fishing which he describes as « durable » and local, and which it opposes to the practices « disastrous » South Seas.
Fight against the 3 % of large trawls
The argument does not convince Bloom. On December 20, the association appealed to the Rennes administrative court to have a deliberation of the Brittany Regional Council annulled. The appeal, as well as a precedent filed last February, were rejected by the Rennes administrative court on January 6, but Bloom announced his intention to appeal.
Disputes, in general, should multiply, as the ONG Europeans believe they are facing States in blatant denial of respect for their international commitments on the ocean.
« The majority of European Union countries, including France, have not even sent their roadmap to the European Commission to respect the commitment of 30 % of marine protected areas. There have been clear legal failings in Europe for thirty years. We are going to change approach and accelerate litigation »therefore declares Nicolas Fournier, campaign director for EuropeONG Oceana.
In the courts and through citizen actions, the coalition promises to increase pressure on governments until Unoc 3, which will begin on June 9 in Nice. Among the fifteen points defended by the ONGthe first is to obtain a « detrawling » total fishing fleets by 2030.
Because trawlers are, by far, the primary cause of the problem: around 3 Only % of boats in France, trawlers over 25 meters long are responsible for half of fish catches, according to Bloom.
« Unoc will be a pivotal moment, we will not be satisfied with marketing promiseswarns Claire Nouvian. They will congratulate themselves on having stabilized fishing volumes, but stabilization at a catastrophic level is not a victory. We must obtain the exclusion of these 3 % of trawlers in the coastal strip. This would be beneficial both for biodiversity and artisanal fishing, therefore employment and many ports which could paradoxically flourish again. »
If there is an emergency, there is still hope: overfishing has been in decline for twenty years in Europe, according to Ifremer ; although it still concerns nearly 30 % of fish populations in the northeast Atlantic and 86 % of those in the Mediterranean. Bloom, however, insists on the long-term dynamic, which is enough to put the upward trends of certain populations into perspective: researchers estimate that the world populations of large predatory fish had collapsed by 90 % in 2003, compared to the pre-industrial study.
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