Macron announces a limitation of background trawling – Liberation
Emmanuel Macron wants « Limit activity » Bottoms in certain areas of French protected marine areas (AMP), he announced in an interview published on Saturday June 7 in the evening by Ouest-France.
« There are places where their activity must be limited, which scraping the bottom, Disturbed biodiversity and ecosystems that must be learned to protect ”, said the head of state, during an interview with several daily newspapers of the regional press, published in two days from the Nice summit on the oceans.
A work « Very precise » with scientists And the fishermen was carried out to reach a « Cartography which is the subject of a consensus », And which will be presented by the Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher, he added, calling not to « stigmatize » fishermen, « Men and women who work hard ».
Little selective and gourmet fuel fishing technique, background trawling is strongly criticized by NGOs that denounce its destructive impact on marine habitatsand ask for its prohibition in all protected marine areas (AMP).
THURSDAY, The EU presented its strategy to better protect the oceanswhich sticks to a simple recommendation to end this fishing practice by 2030 in protected areas. To date, 33 % of French waters are covered by at least one AMP, but most of them allow all fishing practices.
Emmanuel Macron announced a strengthening of the protection of these AMPs in « Areas that have been the subject of a consensus », Citing for example Port-Cros in the Var, the creeks near Marseille, Corsica or the Atlantic facade.
With this strengthening of protection, France will reach the European objective of placing under strong protection 10 % of its maritime field « From January 1, 2026 », With four years ahead of the deadline, assured the president. Areas under high or integral protection, the strictest level of protection, currently cap at 2.6 % of the French maritime domainfalling even less than 0.1 % in mainland France.
France has also defined a legal regime of « Strong protection » which is criticized by NGOs because it is not aligned with the international definitions of the European Union or the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
