“SOS OCEAN!” Summit: Emmanuel Macron supports destroyers against citizens

31 March 2025

At the “SOS OCEAN!” summit held this morning in Paris, Prince Albert II of Monaco concluded his speech by calling on political leaders to act ‘before the shipwreck’, obviously referring to the destruction of life and the climate. He probably had no idea that it would only take a few minutes to witness another shipwreck: that of the general interest, that of political courage, that of Emmanuel Macron, who disgraced France in front of the international cenacle gathered for the occasion.

During his thirty minute-speech, the French President deployed empty words, which in their gaps and omissions, allow to read through his arbitrations: the President reiterated his support for destructive fishing and false protection, against the interests of citizens and against science. Harrison Ford, who was encouraged to support Emmanuel Macron’s champion stance just before the President took the floor, thus regrettably finds himself to have offered his credit to the world’s biggest lobbyist for destructive fishing: the French President. Macron should also repair that damage.

In his address, the President ironically dared put to his credit the victories obtained by BLOOM and NGOs against the initial tedious French government’s resistance (the electric fishing ban, the French support to the deep-sea mining moratorium, etc.). In a strong anti-scientific stance, Emmanuel Macron carefully avoided to speak about the obvious, that was on everyone’s lips and at the heart of the “SOS OCEAN!” Manifesto: the ban on destructive fishing, first and foremost trawling within marine protected areas.

Given that Emmanuel Macron’s position goes against all scientific recommendations and the clear and ambitious consensus expressed in the SOS OCEAN Manifesto (see our press release this morning for more details), the French President’s latest attempt to support destruction by posing as a leader in environmental protection has failed. His indecent speech caused dismay. When the President started lecturing countries that did not already have 30% of marine areas protected, when it is common knowledge that France protects less than 0.1% of its metropolitan waters and has the most trawled marine area in Europe (see our “Bulldozed” report), dismay turned to embarrassment: protecting the status quo no longer goes unnoticed.

BLOOM now declares:

• Given that the only beneficiaries of the most destructive fishing method in History from an ecological, social and economic point of view, trawling, are the large retailers which buy subsidised fish by taxpayers,

• Given the choice of the French President to disregard all the international scientific recommendations, hammered out for decades,

• Given the President’s choice to protect a handful of destructive vessels (800 French trawlers in total) against the opinion and the lives of millions of citizens, who depend on a healthy ocean and immediate measures to combat climate change,

• Given the contempt shown by the President for the clearly expressed preference of 78% of French people for genuine protection of the ocean,

BLOOM declares Emmanuel Macron and the French State irresponsible and unfit to protect our future, life and the climate, and therefore calls for an extraordinary citizen mobilisation to make everyone aware of the alliance made by the President with the destroyers of the ocean.

BLOOM is calling on the public to take action and challenge mass retailers and trawl fishing lobbies, which orchestrate the blocking of the public interest at the highest level of government and have been fighting for decades against the protection of the ocean.

In the face of the multiple lies of the French government about its falsely ‘protected’ marine areas, reinforced this morning by the President’s speech, BLOOM calls on all retailers to take immediate action to stop buying fish from trawl vessels using towed gear in marine protected areas.

In the face of the long resistance of trawlers to take responsibility and work towards a fair, gradual and painless transition plan, in the face of the lamentable situation of MPAs in France, and for which trawl lobbies are jointly responsible with successive governments, we call on the private sector to respond to citizens’ aspirations and to ensure, through their purchases, that marine protected areas are truly protected.

The “SOS OCEAN!” summit showed that all the stakeholders were aligned around clear demands in an ambitious manifesto. Except France. It is a disgrace for our country, which is isolating itself in an untenable anti-scientific and pro-destructive fishing stance.