3 July 2008
France French tuna fishermen have blocked several access points to France’s Fos-Lavera oil hub in protest at the European Commission’s decision to end their fishing season early, the port authority said on Thursday.
The main French tuna fishermen’s trade union threatened on Wednesday to block access to France’s main Mediterranean ports.
The tuna fishermen, who blocked the sea access points with their boats, are protesting against the Commission's decision to ban trawling for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean from June 16, cutting short the tuna fishing season by two weeks.
The Commission says the quota for the year has been exhausted, but France has been particularly annoyed by the ban, engaging in an angry war of words with the Commission about its catch data and arguing that it still has the right to fish.
The Commission, on the other hand, has accused France and Italy of quota-busting and under-reporting catches. It says there is evidence of illegal spotter planes being used by EU vessels to help them identify tuna shoals.
