France’s ‘new’ marine protected areas: Emmanuel Macron’s greatest environmental scam

09 June 2025

Even before the official opening of the third United Nations Ocean Conference on June 9, French President Emmanuel Macron had already made three public statements between June 7 and 8, presenting what were described as “major” announcements. However, it wasn’t until the evening of June 8, with the release of a press kit by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, that it became clear what these announcements really meant: the percentage of metropolitan French waters supposedly covered by “protected” areas where bottom trawling would be banned would rise from 0.1% to a claimed 4%.

But upon a detailed review of the press kit entitled “Protecting Marine Biodiversity” BLOOM discovered the truth behind the illusion: the areas that would make up the so-called 4% of newly “highly protected” waters—where bottom trawling is supposedly to be banned by the end of 2026—are, in reality, areas where bottom trawling is already banned!

Pulling off such a scam and daring to present it at the UN’s global ocean summit is both dishonest and brazen. It reflects the belief that journalists—or at the very least, BLOOM’s experts—would be too ignorant to uncover the deception.

Let us recall that 30% of the ocean is supposed to be protected by 2030, and that, according to scientific recommendations, a marine protected area must by definition ban destructive fishing methods such as trawling and prohibit vessels over 12 meters in length—otherwise, it cannot be considered “protected.”

It’s also worth noting that the very areas now being rebranded as “protected” from bottom trawling are protected thanks to BLOOM’s long campaign against deep-sea bottom trawling.

The summit hadn’t even begun, and yet Emmanuel Macron had already undermined its credibility with this fraudulent announcement. At a time when biodiversity and the climate are collapsing, this shameful move shows the President never intended the UN Ocean Conference to be anything more than a giant PR stunt. Unfortunately for him, BLOOM is watching closely—and our investigation may be the grain of sand that brings the French President’s communication machine to a grinding halt.

When comparing the two maps provided by the French government detailing the affected areas, it is clear that—except for a few rare cases—the zones that will now be labeled as “highly protected” and free from bottom trawling are exactly the same as those that have already been off-limits to bottom trawling since January 1, 2017. These areas are the hard-won result of a seven-year battle led by BLOOM and our European partners to secure a ban on deep-sea bottom trawling.

The government’s only “new” move is to slap a “marine protected area” label on zones that have already been protected under European regulation for nine years in the Atlantic.

In light green: Areas that will become “highly protected zones” where bottom trawling is banned

In red hatching: Areas where bottom trawling has already been banned under the deep-sea fishing regulation that came into effect in 2017

The same trick is being used in the Mediterranean.

In an effort to shine on the international stage without ever challenging the absolute rule of the industrial fishing lobby, President Macron has just executed what may be his greatest environmental scam.