Fishing overseas: in the bureaucratic hell of Brussels

According to the Élysée, there has never been a meeting between a French head of state and a Surinamese head of state. However, the two countries share, via Guyana, a border of 510 kilometers along the Maroni River, the 5th longest that France shares with one of its neighbors. This omission or fault will be repaired on Tuesday during a one-on-one meeting between Emmanuel Macron and his counterpart Chan Santokhi, on the occasion of the summit between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean which takes place held in Brussels since Monday.

The subjects of conversation should not be lacking between the two heads of state. First to congratulate ourselves that the border between the two countries is finally fixed. Incredible as it may seem, between 1915 (then Dutch Guiana) and 2021, the border between these two lands remained unclear, leading to tensions in 2018 over the fight against illegal migration, the illegal gold panning, smuggling…

On March 15, 2021, by a diplomatic agreement, the scientific delimitation of the course of the border between the Maroni estuary up to the confluence of the Lawa, the Litani and the Rio Marouini was finally recorded “for the sake of friendship and good neighbours”. This route includes, moreover, an international arbitration rendered in 1891 between Holland and France by the Russian Tsar Alexander III on the route of the delimitation of the Lawa! At that time, the Russians respected the borders…

This subject leads to another: the “tapouilles”, these fishing boats from Suriname (but also those from Brazil or Guyana) which do not respect Guyanese territorial waters (131,000 km²). The “tapouilles” plunder the fish stocks of Guyanese fishermen using too thin, longer fishing nets (10 km instead of 2.5 km). A sacking of fisheries resources denounced a thousand times. This old subject has not found a solution despite the efforts of the French Navy. The “tapouilles” target one species in particular, the red acoupa, whose swim bladder is particularly sought after for its alleged aphrodisiac virtue in Asia where it sells for gold (more than 150 euros per kilo).

Emmanuel Macron has undertaken to renew the dilapidated fleet of Guyanese fishermen, like that of all the islands classified in the Outermost Regions (OR). These are Guadeloupe, Reunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin (French side). The ORs have the particularity of belonging to the European Union, unlike the overseas territories which are not part of the single market. Thus it is European competition law that applies to fishermen from Guyana or Reunion. France cannot therefore directly help these fishermen without prior authorization from the Commission under State aid.

Table tennis started a few years ago. Exactly on April 27, 2017. On that day, the Commission authorized state aid for the renewal of fishing vessels. But this is only the beginning of a long process… Because since then, not a single euro has fallen into the coffers of fishermen in the ORs. Indeed, France must provide, beforehand, a detailed report on the state of pelagic resources in the overseas departments. In 2021, France filed a report. But the Commission did not consider it sufficiently precise and refused public aid pending a more detailed report.

Ifremer drew up an assessment in 2022 but, in truth, the researchers lack knowledge “of a large part of the fish populations, which represent 43% of the landings in these regions, to draw up an opinion on their ecological state at exception of large pelagics (tuna, swordfish, marlin…) which are closely monitored by various international commissions”? as recognized by Alain Biseau, a fisheries biologist at Ifremer.

France must also comply with a methodology recognized by the Commission. A new report is currently being examined by the independent committee, which must give its opinion. We are here in the bureaucratic hell where we always want to do better by taking all the necessary precautions. This committee should decide in October. If the report is deemed satisfactory, the Commission’s Directorate-General Mare (maritime affairs) should then give the green light by 1 April 2024 at the latest.

If all goes well, 7 years will therefore have passed between the authorization in principle of State aid in 2017 and the final authorization… Meanwhile, of the 500 Guyanese fishermen, there are only a hundred left, according to the CRPMEM (Regional Committee for Maritime Fisheries and Marine Farming in French Guiana).

The French government is waiting for this green light after having promised, in the time of Jean Castex, 63.8 million euros to the overseas territories on March 4, 2022 for the renewal of the fishing fleet. For Guyana, 17 million euros are pending, 16.2 million euros for Guadeloupe, 16.2 million for Martinique, 7.5 million for Mayotte, 6.9 million euros for Reunion. On May 13, while traveling to Reunion, Elisabeth Borne pledged to finance two high school projects to the tune of 60 million euros, one of which will be devoted to sea trades and the other to green tourism.

The paradox lies in the fact that France is opposed to European law for Guyanese fishermen who live 7,400 kilometers from Brussels, very far from the European market, on the other hand, nothing prevents France from helping Suriname through the French Development Agency. More than 76 million euros have been committed since 2000 by AFD in Suriname to improve, in particular, the construction of a 40-bed rural hospital in the town of Albina.