President of the National Committee for marine fisheries and marine fish farming (CNPMEM), Olivier Le Nézet, calls for the withdrawal of this proposal (see News: Position of the European Commission on the European eel – COM(2022) 559 final) by the European Commissioner in charge of the eel issue, following the dialogue of the deaf between French professional fishermen and the European Commission.

“Putting an end from 30 January next to the activities of 660 individual fishing enterprises using fishing vessels of less than 10 metres, symbols of small-scale coastal fishing, in such a brutal manner is not serious! “This proposal deliberately ignores the whole problem by ignoring the main cause of non-recovery of the stock: fragmentation, pollution and obstacles to waterways that prevent migration and kill eels in their various stages. It is time for the Commission to tackle the real causes instead of looking for a scapegoat, namely the fisherman. I therefore invite the commission to put on the boots of reality and respect the rules it has imposed.”

https://www.comite-peches.fr/pour-une-gestion-de-terrain-de-languille-pas-une-gestion-en-chaussons/

 Paris the 5th of  December 2022.