About thirty Breton fishermen demonstrated Monday morning in front of the house of the president of Sea Shepherd France, Lamya Essemlali, in Riec-sur-Belon (Finistère) to protest against the actions of the NGO.
Fishermen from Lorient, Quiberon (Morbihan) and Concarneau (Finistère) went there calmly, in the presence of gendarmes, according to the demonstrators.
"
They think we are responsible for everything that happens to them, that we want the death of small fishermen
," said Lamya Essemlali, who was not there.
“
We never said we wanted fishing to stop, it's unrealistic.
On the other hand, we want to preserve the ocean and limit disastrous fishing techniques and that there be more control
”, she added, also pleading for a “
better valuation of fishing
” in the face of a system that “
pushes to fish more and more
”.
Last week, the Council of State, seized by several NGOs including Sea Shepherd, ordered the government to close certain fishing areas in the Atlantic in order to preserve the dolphins whose strandings in the Bay of Biscay have multiplied.
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“Irresponsible” and “dangerous” remarks
In the process, the president of the national fisheries committee Olivier Le Nézet denounced "
radicalized environmental defense associations
", "
small groups with practices at the limit of legality
" which "
promote radical ecology
".
"
It's very clear, we simply want to end our profession
," he wrote in an open letter to the President of the Republic.
“ Irresponsible
” and “
dangerous
” remarks
, according to Lamya Essemlali.
“
We are the scapegoat for all the problems of artisanal fishing
,” she added.
The fishermen's movement comes in the wake of the port blockades that began two weeks ago to demand a meeting with Hervé Berville, the Secretary of State for the Sea, about the national and European restrictions imposed on fishermen.
"
We will continue our actions as long as we do not have the meeting requested from the Secretary of State
", declared one of the fishermen, David Le Quintrec.
The fishermen then headed for the Concarneau fish auction, which they want to close as part of a "
dead ports
" operation planned for the weekend.