Discharges of thousands of dead fish by trawlers, denounced by Sea Shepherd

The last days, Sea Shepherd Association filmed a shoal of dead fish floating over more than 3000 m2 300 kilometers off La Rochelle, in the Bay of Biscay. From his boat Age of Union she followed the activity of the
Margiris, a factory ship that was in the area. Three other giant trawlers were present in the fishing area and could be involved in the disposal of its dead fish, estimates the NGO. It is not known why these blue whiting were returned to the water by these giant boats, which obviously targeted other species.

the Margiris measuring 143 meters long and 18 meters wide, it is the second largest trawler in the world, specifies the NGO in its video. She recalls that his authorization to fish in Australian waters has been canceled, and that he is not always welcome in other maritime territories such as those of Chile or Ireland. “Nobody wants it and it fishes in the French exclusive economic zone completely legally”, regrets the NGO in its video. With a net 600 m long and 200 m wide, the Margiris collects approximately 6,000 tonnes of fish over a fishing campaign and nearly 200 tonnes per day. The fish are frozen and packaged directly in the holds of the ship, transformed into a real factory.

The Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, traveling to New Aquitaine on Friday, asked “the National Fisheries Monitoring Center to shed light on this subject in order to identify the causes of these significant discards of fish. »

Fishing: world catches in decline and yet largely underestimated


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