Hundreds of dolphins wash up on France’s Atlantic coast and thousands more are believed to be killed in fishing nets each year, as environmentalists and Brussels pressure the government to protect the marine mammals.
On Wednesday, Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, head of the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO), said he would write to President Emmanuel Macron that “the time has come to do our best to save dolphins from persecution or even extinction.
“This dramatic situation is even less acceptable because it could have been avoided,” added Bougrain-Dubourg.
Increase in the death of dolphins
Pro-dolphin activists say dangerous fishing activities, including deep-sea and offshore trawling, should be halted for several weeks in the Bay of Biscay between France and Spain.
The Pelagic Ocean Observatory has spotted an increase in dolphin deaths along the Atlantic coast, with 127 common dolphins washed up in January alone – up from 73 in the same month last year.
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The increase in dolphin deaths is usually seen at the end of the year, during the February-March coastal feeding season that brings them closer to fishing boats chasing hake and sea bass.
This year Increase in finding “especially early”, Pelagis said this month.
During all of 2022, 669 dolphins washed up – down from 1,299 in 2020.
Scientists believe that more than 80 percent of dolphins that die drown or perish at sea rather than wash ashore, suggesting the actual number of deaths is as high as 11,000 per year.
Of the washed-up dolphins, “the most presented signs of being caught in fishing gear”, Pelagis said, with LPO singling out “a cut in the tail fin and clear traces of the net” on the skin.
– ‘Half step’ –
CIEM, the scientific body that monitors the North Atlantic ecosystem, has for years called for a winter break for some unscrupulous fishing techniques, meeting fierce resistance from industrial fishermen.
After two years of pressure from the European Commission and under the spotlight of activists, Paris has so far offered an eight-point plan with technical measures, not far from an outright ban.
These measures include a voluntary observer scheme on fishing boats, satellite trackers and trawlers fitted with cameras or acoustic repellent devices that repel dolphins.
Many fishing vessels have been equipped with the devices in “large-scale experiments” to test their effectiveness, the government said.
But the LPO accused the government of a “half-measure … that will change nothing and cost precious time”.
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Environmental group Sea Shepherd says the repellent devices “create a large exclusion zone in the dolphin feeding grounds” that risks depriving it of essential nutrients.
Paris has yet to close the door to a temporary ban, suggesting a “time and space-limited closure” of fishing could be tested in the Bay of Biscay in the 2024-25 season “if there are no satisfactory results to reduce the unintended catch” of dolphins. .
This is not enough for the activists. Sea Shepherd filed a criminal complaint on Jan. 16 against an unidentified person for failing to intervene.