During the Second World War, nearly 30,000 tonnes of ammunition was dropped on Brest.
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“We were taken for offenders.” For the past two years, the fishermen of the Brest Rade, at the western tip of France, have no longer picked up the shells of the Second World War, rising in their dredges. A refusal that is not without consequences on the environment.
Plastic gloves and black cap, Philippe Perrot, 55, scrolls through scallops at high speed on his square. Those less than 11 cm are rejected at sea, the others will be sold at the Criée de Brest, a port city at the tip of Brittany.
The fishing was good on Wednesday in January: the mestrel, a 10 -meter small boat, went up 249 kilos of shells in two hours of fishing. With each passage, the dredge dumped many molluscs, sea urchins, starfish, stones and sediments on the bridge of the boat. But no shells.
Fishing a bomb is not exceptional in Brest harbor, where during the Second World War, nearly 30,000 tonnes of ammunition was dropped, almost fully destroying the city.
“There is a boat that fished five recently, he put them back to the water,” says Philippe Perrot, vice-president of the local fisheries committee. “It’s not a solution either, because it is a source of pollutants,” he notes.
In theory, fishermen must point out each shell in their dredge. The divers-deminers of the French navy then come to recover “ammunition” to neutralize it.
300 euros per discount
In exchange for this aid to depollution, the shells receive compensation of 300 euros for each discount, which they make one or more ammunition.
But for two years, the system has gripped. After a peak of 174 shells picked up during the 2021/2022 fishing campaign, the fishermen reported only seven and eight in each of the following two seasons.
And since the reopening of shell fishing in November 2024, only a shell has been reported, according to the Atlantic Maritime Prefecture.
The reason? An investigation launched by the maritime gendarmerie in 2022 on regulation offenses, some fishermen putting aside the shells to declare them in several times and thus receive more bonuses, which is illegal.
In September 2023, two of them were sentenced to suspended prison sentences and fines for fraud, transport, detention and sale of war materials.
-“Feeling of impunity”
He reigned among fishermen “a feeling of impunity created by the generalization of dangerous and trivialized practices”, describes Colonel Pierre-Damien Igau, commander of the Maritime Gendarmerie of the Atlantic.
“The discovery of historical ammunition (…) presents an immediate objective risk” and they can “be diverted for other purposes,” adds the officer.
Several fishermen, suspected during the investigation, have kept a bitter taste. “People have been abused and they no longer want to pick up” the shells, “explains Mr. Perrot.
“The guys were taken as if they were offenders, drug traffickers,” he added, describing telephone listening and GPS beacons under fishermen’s vehicles.
Standing situation
Me David Rajjou, lawyer of one of the sentenced fishermen, points out “an excess of zeal” and “a total disproportion of the means deployed” by the gendarmes.
“I understand the local excitement of the profession,” concedes Colonel Igau, dismissing the “excess of zeal” charges.
Since then, the situation seems to be in a standstill, despite the reminders of the authorities with regard to the importance of declaring the fished shells.
“Each draft ammunition contributes to the quality of the water in the harbor,” said the frigate captain Alban Simon, spokesperson for the maritime prefecture.
The diver-deminers group (GPD) has even shortened its intervention times to interfere with fishermen as little as possible. But the discontent lasts.
“Our door remains open. We are waiting for the state services to come and chat with us, ”says Perrot, who pleads for a reform of the system of compensation and collection of shells.
(afp)
