2023-12-23 17:25:01
In order to ensure the survival of dolphins, the Council of State suspended on Friday December 22 exemptions granted by the government to fishermen in the Bay of Biscay. The highest French administrative court considered that these were too important to “have a chance of reducing the mortality of small cetaceans to a sustainable level by 2024”.
The decision sowed concern in the world of fishing, but it reassured the four environmental protection associations mobilized on this issue: Sea Shepherd, France Nature Environnement, Defense of Aquatic Environments and the League for the Protection of birds.
► “A victory for the protection of marine mammals”according to the Bird Protection League
“It is a victory for the protection of small marine mammals, the Council of State recalled the law and listened to science”greeted the general director of the Bird Protection League Cédric Marteau, contacted by The cross. According to the International Center for the Exploration of the Sea, some 9,000 common dolphins die each year by accidental capture on the French Atlantic coast.
Initially, the association had requested that the winter space-time closures apply to all vessels, of all sizes, but the Council of State maintained the exemptions concerning boats measuring less than eight meters. The hardening of the month without fishing is all the same “a strong measure”continues Cédric Marteau, since“it will allow exploited fish to have a one-month break allowing them to reproduce.”
► For the Sea Shepherd France association, space-time closures which “going in the right direction”
Thomas Le Coz, captain of a boat on behalf of the NGO Sea Shepherd France, for his part sees the decision of the Council of State as a “historic victory”he confides to The cross. Since 2018, the NGO has been running awareness campaigns on the subject of dolphin capture and asking for additional resources to better identify the most problematic fishing methods.
“Spatio-temporal closures are a step in the right direction, but they will not solve all the problems”warns the captain. “We are talking about bans for one month during winter because that is the period when dolphin carcasses are most visible on the beaches, but it is a phenomenon that we observe throughout the year”underlines Thomas Le Coz.
The NGO Sea Shepherd France is calling for the installation of surveillance cameras all year round, and not just during the winter fishing-free month. A way to collect precise data to understand the excess mortality of dolphins in the Bay of Biscay.
► “Extremist NGOs”Who “want to make our jobs disappear”denounces the National Fisheries Committee
The decision of the Council of State is seen as dramatic by the fishermen’s representatives. The National Committee for Maritime Fisheries and Marine Farming (CNPMEM) criticized in a press release “extremist NGOs” Who “want to eliminate our professions and our sectors by making the Bay of Biscay, where we have worked for centuries, a zone prohibited for fishing”reports AFP.
Furthermore, the Committee does not consider the species of common dolphins to be endangered in this vast fishing zone located in the west of France, which extends from the northern coast of Spain to Brittany. In total, 500 vessels will be banned from fishing for a month in the Bay of Biscay, estimates the CNPMEM.
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