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Reaffirming Positions
The meeting was attended by Olivier Thibault, Executive Director of the French Biodiversity Agency; Cécile Avezard, Executive Director of Voies navigables de France; Thierry Burlot, President of the Loire-Bretagne River Basin Committee, as well as Pierre Medéville, Senator and member of the Senate?s ?Hunting and Fishing? Study Group, and Daniel Labaronne, Co-Chair of the National Assembly?s ?Hunting and Fishing? Study Group.
Beyond institutional discussions, this annual meeting provided the fishing advocacy network with an opportunity to reaffirm its positions on major issues related to water management, the preservation of aquatic biodiversity, and the future of recreational fishing.
A water policy deemed to be weakened
While the Senate was debating the emergency agricultural bill that same day, Claude Roustan made no secret of his concern. According to the president of the FNPF, this bill ?literally aims to dismantle? a water policy model that was consolidated in 1992 and again in 2006, only to be gradually called into question and weakened over the years.
For the FNPF, water policy now seems to have been reduced to a focus on capturing this shared resource, at the expense of a broader vision. Its president, however, points out that water cannot be considered an ordinary common good. The federation advocates for a dedicated ministry, a comprehensive planning law, strengthened resource pooling, strict enforcement of the ?polluter pays? principle, local governance, a balanced and coordinated sharing of the resource, as well as recognition of a higher principle: that of moderation.
