Today, a gathering orchestrated by BLOOM in collaboration with several NGOs including an international coalition of over 70 organizations – the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition – is taking place in front of a forum in Paris on the theme of “tomorrow’s fisheries”. The message to French Ecology Minister Ségolène Royal is that the public is calling on her to ensure that tomorrow’s fisheries will certainly not be deep-sea bottom trawling!
Almost a year after the European Parliament narrowly voted against phasing out deep-sea bottom trawling in December 2013, many seem to think that the new EU deep-sea fishing regulation will inevitably allow this destructive practice to continue. But the proposal is alive in the European Council. The negotiations at the European Council – stalled for over two years largely due to the intransigence of France – are finally underway under the Italian Presidency.
The French Minister of Ecology Ségolène Royal tweeted on October 20 “We must stop deep-sea bottom trawling, this is clear.” If France would alter its official position in the Council negotiations, this could pave the way for a new EU regulation that would protect deep-sea ecosystems from the harmful impact of bottom fishing by phasing-out deep-sea bottom trawling. Nearly 900,000 people have signed BLOOM’s petition calling on the government to ban bottom trawling in the deep-sea. The gathering will urge Ségolène Royal to respond to the public concern and work to convince other EU deep-sea fishing countries in the Council negotiations to adopt the ban on deep-sea bottom trawling.
“Home” movie director Yann Arthus-Bertrand, actress Melanie Laurent, oceanographer François Sarano, Green Members of Parliament Laurence Abeille and Jean-Louis Roumégas and Green national secretary Emmanuelle Cosse will join the gathering together with NGOs.
