French President Emmanuel Macron, during his participation in the 2025 UN Ocean Conference held in Nice, France, in June.
Photo: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
On July 9, the ocean advocacy NGO BLOOM submitted a formal legal notice to the French State, demanding immediate action to stop the ecological damage caused by the degradation of metropolitan waters - this is the waters of mainland France and the island of Corsica - and marine biodiversity.
According to the non-profit organization, this degradation is largely due to bottom trawling, a fishing technique it claimed is "both destructive to the environment and harmful to small-scale fisheries, and which can only continue to exist thanks to massive public subsidies."
"There is a long-established and unambiguous scientific consensus on the role of bottom trawling in degrading marine ecosystems. Therefore, its continued use is incompatible with both European and national legal frameworks that aim to protect marine environments," BLOOM's release announcing the legal action said.
After seeing other countries such as the UK - and more recently Sweden - take measures to protect their seabed from bottom fishing and, following what it considers "the failure of the third UN Ocean Conference" in the debate on this issue in France - the UNOC3 was held in Nice from June 9 to 13 -, the NGO held the French Government responsible and, therefore, chose to initiate what it calls "The Great Trawl Case."
"To put an end to the ecological damage caused by the degradation of metropolitan waters and marine biodiversity, BLOOM has adopted a groundbreaking, comprehensive legal approach, analysing the harms caused by bottom trawling across all four French maritime zones and referencing all applicable regulations," the association stated.
BLOOM claims that current bottom trawling practices prevent France from complying with its environmental commitments and added that it has identified numerous non-compliances by the country.
Among them, the organization mentions the non-compliance with the good environmental status (GES), the failure to apply fishing risk assessments (FRA) in Natura 2000 areas, the excess of bottom trawling within the three nautical mile zone, or the lack of compliance with trawling bans in protected areas in the Mediterranean.
Again according to the BLOOM release, the formal legal notification to the French State, a necessary step before initiating legal proceedings, requires the French Government to take specific measures to remedy and stop the ecological damage that is occurring in French metropolitan waters, under current legislation. The NGO warned that if the State fails to act, it will take the case to the administrative courts.
