French fishermen lift port blockade on English Channel, keep up pressure to ease quotas

PARIS — French fishermen allowed traffic to resume to three English Channel ports Thursday after receiving a government promise of euro4 million ($5.27 million) in aid, but they vowed to keep up their fight against European fishing quotas.

While passenger and freight traffic was picking up in Calais, Dunkirk and Boulogne-sur-Mer, ferry companies expressed frustration at losses from the two-day blockade. Trawlers had blocked the three key ports Tuesday and Wednesday, stranding passengers and trucks on both sides of the Channel.

Meanwhile, EU officials said they were studying whether the promised French state aid was allowed.

The fishermen are protesting EU fishing quotas for sole and cod which are aimed at protecting and reviving dwindling fish stocks. The fishermen say the quotas are too low for them to make a living.

The blockading of ports was the latest display in France of workers' frustration with the economic downturn. In recent weeks and months, workers have sequestered bosses, marched through Paris and gone on hunger strikes.

Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier on Wednesday night pledged up to euro4 million in aid for the fishing industry by June 30, as well as help in getting bank loans and other measures.

Overnight, the fishermen lifted their blockades of Calais and Dunkirk, and on Thursday began allowing traffic through Boulogne-sur-Mer, said Bruno Dachicourt, head of the CFTC fishing union of the port city.

Dachicourt said fishermen would continue protests along access roads to the ports. They also were handing out free fish to continue pressing the government for more and faster help.

P&O Ferries Ltd. spokesman Chris Laming warned that blockades could recur and urged the French government to keep the sea border open.

"It's a pattern that we've seen repeated before," he told BBC radio Thursday, saying that French officials gave in too quickly to the protesters.

"People think, 'Well it worked that time, I'll come back and try again next time,'" he said. "France has a legal obligation under the EU treaty to keep that border open for the free movement of goods and people."

The European Commission said Thursday it would investigate the French government aid offer to see whether it abides by EU aid rules.

EU spokeswoman Nathalie Charbonneau said direct government aid to prop up fishery operations is not permitted under EU rules, but that the aid could be channeled to fishermen under the EU's fisheries fund, aimed at making the European fisheries industry more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Judith Blatch, 47, from southern England, was quoted by Britain's Press Association as saying she was glad the blockade was over.

"We have some sympathy with the French fishermen because it's their livelihood, but it wasn't doing the reputation of France any good," she said.

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Associated Press writer Constant Brand in Brussels and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.