Will the French take advantage of Holy Week to eat more fish? Invited on the morning of FranceInfoTV, the Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume has in any case asked his fellow citizens to eat "more shellfish and more fish" to help the fishermen, while the fishery has been divided by five since the start of containment. He also asked the coastal boats, those who can make a round trip during the day, to go fishing every day.
Read also: Coronavirus: French fishing divided by five
Drop in demand
Between the fall in demand and fears of contamination on fishing boats, French fishermen have in fact reduced by five the amount of fish caught in late March, according to a note from FranceAgriMer which AFP learned about Friday.
The week of March 23 to 39, 146 ships landed 612 tonnes of seafood, against 2,947 tonnes per 495 ships on average in 2018 and 2019, in the same period, according to figures established by the para-public organization . At the same time, around 900 tonnes of seafood products were sold in the tide halls, a decrease of 69% compared to the previous week and 83% compared to the same week on average over the three years. previous.
"Go back to sea"
Didier Guillaume therefore called this Tuesday April 7 in the morning the fishermen to " set out again at sea ". " They can't sell their produce because people bought a lot of pasta at the start of the containment and haven't gone back to a balanced diet yet, " he said. Today we are working so that the coastal boats go back to fishing every day. On the other hand, those who leave for two or three weeks want to be equipped with masks etc ..., but this material is for the moment intended for nursing staff. We will quickly unblock the situation, "he promised.