During a stopover on the island of Yeu due to bad weather, before setting sail for Saint-Gilles Croix de Vie, the NGO Sea Shepherd's boat was attacked by angry fishermen. The ambassador ship was bombarded with flour and eggs and its mooring lines were cut, which could have been dangerous given the weather conditions. They blamed the NGO for having worked with Europe to ban them from fishing porbeagle in 2009, a fishery specific to the island of Yeu. One of the fishermen told Ouest France that they were claiming against Paul Watson, the founder of Sea Shepherd, who "participated in crying with the wolves to get the ban on porbeagle fishing in 2009. This claim was completely ridiculous in the eyes of the NGO since they had nothing to do with the ban. As lifelong shark preservers, they had nothing to do with this story.
Faced with the fishermen's attack, the vessel made its way more quickly than expected to Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, but also met there with disgruntled professionals. While it was supposed to stay in port for 6 months, in order to spend the winter, Jean-Yves Terlain's boat was not sure to be able to get there.
A compromise has been found
On Monday evening, a meeting between the fishermen, Sea Shepherd and the municipality of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie led to a solution. The Columbus will be able to spend the winter in the port of the city as was planned from the beginning. The condition is that at each visit that Jean-Yves Terlain will have to make, the fishermen will be present.
