"
Not supported
", "
discredited
": agents of the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) in Brest, whose offices were burned down the day after a demonstration by fishermen, asked for a meeting with the Secretary of State for the sea.
“
How can we continue our missions when the extremist actions of certain demonstrators are not firmly condemned by the government?
“, they ask in a letter being drafted by agents of the marine center of Brest, of which AFP has had a copy.
Request to meet with the Secretary of State
On March 31, a fire destroyed part of the former captaincy of Brest, which houses the offices of the OFB, the day before the target of numerous rocket attacks and distress fires from angry fishermen.
The police then did not intervene to prevent the degradation of the building by the demonstrators.
The fire could have been caused by embers fanned by the violent wind, according to the sub-prefecture, which evoked a “
hypothesis
”.
"
Because of this disaster, 35 agents lost their place of work in Brest, many files and work in progress and for some personal effects
", according to the letter, which requests a meeting with the Secretary of State for the Sea , Hervé Berville, in order to “
remove misunderstandings relating to political positions
”.
This letter, which was not intended to be made public, aimed to provoke a meeting between Mr. Berville and the OFB agents.
Situation “envenomed”
Asked by AFP, Mr. Berville's office did not respond immediately, recalling only that the Secretary of State had contacted the prefect and wrote a letter of support to the OFB after the fire.
According to Sylvain Michel, representative of the CGT staff at the OFB, Mr. Berville has "
envenomed the situation
" with "
speeches which have discredited our missions and called into question our work as State counsel
", in particular by opposing to any binding measure for fishing in marine protected areas.
"
We really have the impression that Hervé Berville was playing against us to make our work ineffective
," added Mr. Michel.
“
Many colleagues wonder if their work is still useful.
In this letter, the agents thus say that they can "
neither understand nor accept the absence of messages of truth about the necessary changes that the sector (fisheries) must still undertake
", while "
the results for the protection of the biodiversity
" are "
timid
" and that "
many issues remain to be addressed: accidental captures of protected species, degradation of marine habitats, release of oceanic carbon...
".
"
We don't feel supported at all
," an agent told AFP, saying he was still "
traumatized
" by the fire.
