the fishermen of Boulogne-sur-Mer denounce the delay in licenses

“The players in the sector, unable to exercise their activity, must know the causes of such a delay and the origin of the blockage”, wrote in a letter addressed to the Minister of the Sea, fishermen and elected

Fishermen and local elected officials of Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais), France’s leading fishing port, denounced on Thursday the delay in the allocation of licenses to access British waters, nearly three months after the agreement on fishing between London and Brussels in the context of Brexit.

” 1^is last January, in front of the actors of the sector in Boulogne-sur-Mer, the government made the commitment […] that the fishing licenses in the 6-12 nautical mile zone be allocated within 48 hours ”, write, in a letter to the Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, the mayor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Frédéric Cuvillier, Jean- François Rapin, regional councilor and senator for Pas-de-Calais, and Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France region.

However, “to date, and despite this commitment, only 23 licenses have been allocated directly threatening the activity of the 850 sailors of Hauts-de-France and the 5,000 jobs in the port”, regret the elected officials in this letter of March 19. .

” It’s scandalous “

“The players in the sector, unable to exercise their activity, must know the causes of such a delay and the origin of the blockage”, they ask, claiming “faced with the fall in income”, that either “Compensated for the loss of activity”.

” It’s scandalous. Countries must demand a support plan at European level. We must help re-engine […] and support young people who have projects. France must be an actor in this necessary requirement, ”added Frédéric Cuvillier.

For the vice-president of the regional fisheries committee, Stéphane Pinto, “the French government must put pressure on the European Union to find a solution. I cannot conceive of the French authorities saying to French business leaders “we have no solution, you must stop your activity” ”.

“We were told that if there was no possibility of obtaining these licenses, the solution would be the implementation of a fleet exit plan. », Criticizes Stéphane Pinto.

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