The industry has welcomed support from the French government in regards to challenges which are faceting the maritime sectors.
During a seminar organised by the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) in the framework of the European Shipping Week, a message was delivered on behalf of Alain Vidalies, the French secretary of state for transport.
He declared that the challenges to the maritime sectors are not only economic, environmental and related to security but also social.
“We have been very pleased to hear the words of Mr Vidalies today,” said Flemming Smidt, vice-chair of the SSDC-F.
He added: “His speech echoed some of the elements that we, as social partners in the fisheries sector, are advocating already for many years.”
It was expected that there would be a full inclusion of the fisheries sector in the scope of the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP). The IMP has not lived up to the plans that had been made when it was first launched, this is especially true for fisheries.
Ment van der Zwan, Europêche’s spokesperson in the SSDC-F, explained: “France is one of the few EU countries that has ratified the ILO Work in Fishing Convention (C188) and we are aware that it is also looking very closely at the ratification of the IMO STCW-F Convention. These are two of the key tools we have available to make fisheries, in the EU and globally, more socially sustainable.”
He concluded: “We support the French holistic and integrative approach, which aims at fully transposing the ILO C188 into community law in a way that it applies to all fishermen regardless of their employment status: both employees and self-employed.”
