Fos-sur-Mer: the oil depot blocked by fishermen evacuated

The oil depot blocked Tuesday morning by fishermen in Fos-sur-Mer to protest against the rise in fuel prices and the deterioration of their working conditions “was evacuated and resumed its activity,” announced the police headquarters. The lifting of the blockade, which began at 3:00 a.m., took place shortly before 10:00 a.m. with the help of the CRS, noted an AFP journalist. The hundred tanker trucks blocked outside were able to access the oil depot.

A brief episode of tension had previously pitted the fifty fishermen present against the police. On site, firefighters were putting out some pallet fires, according to an AFP journalist. The demonstrators displayed banners: “Europe is killing us”, “The EU is sinking our boats and Paris is watching”.

Early in the morning, Ange Natoli, a representative of the fishermen, told AFP they wanted to be “received by the Minister of Fisheries Catherine Chabaud”. Asked by AFP, the ministry responsible for the Sea and Fisheries indicated that Catherine Chabaud “has taken note of their demands and will receive them in the coming days in a spirit of dialogue”.

For the president of the strategic committee of E.Leclerc supermarkets, Michel-Édouard Leclerc, the blocking of the oil depot “has no logic,” he said Tuesday on BFMTV/RMC. “This will only paralyze” but “at this stage, there is no risk of shortage,” assured Mr. Leclerc.

On Monday, several dozen fishermen have already demonstrated in Sète (Hérault) and Port-Vendres (Pyrénées-Orientales). In Sète, a delegation of union representatives was received at the prefecture, without obtaining “answers to our expectations”, according to the president of the Occitanie regional committee Bernard Perez, who warned that “the movement risks hardening”.

The regional fisheries committees of Occitanie, Paca and Corsica, the three producer organizations (PO) of the Mediterranean, and seafarers' unions (employees and employers) launched a joint movement on Monday which "will continue as long as concrete responses have not been provided to the main demands of the profession", according to their press release.

Fishing professionals denounce “a continued deterioration of their operating conditions”, due in particular to “the increase in operating and fuel costs” but also a “multiplication of administrative and regulatory constraints”. France is the second European producer of fishing products, behind Spain, with 477,000 tonnes of fish and shellfish caught in 2024, almost stable (+1%) compared to 2023, according to government data.