French fishermen have called on President Emmanuel Macron to cancel the 496MW Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm, threatening “unprecedented confrontations” if their demands are not met.
The fishermen oppose the project as they say it will damage the marine environment, especially scallops, and the fishing industry.
“The State must have the ambition to cancel this project,” Alain Coudray, president of the Côtes-d’Armor departmental fisheries committee, said in an open letter to the president, local media reported.
“It is not yet too late to prevent unprecedented confrontations from emerging in the bay of Saint-Brieuc,” Coudray said, according to the reports.
Coudray could not be reached directly for comment. The project’s developer, Iberdrola-owned Ailes Marines, declined to comment.
In November, the fishermen threatened direct action to halt the project, which is due for commissioning in 2023.
“A strong decision, but which would show that France requires that the deployment of marine energies be done by taking into consideration the uses and society that define the territory and with a desire to respect these and the environment,” Coudray said.
In December, the French Council of State ruled in favour of developer Ailes Marines in the final appeal in French courts against the project.