Images that shocked, and raise the issue of fish discarded by fishing vessels, a practice partially prohibited in the European Union, but poorly applied. The NGO Sea Shepherd filed a complaint against the ship on Tuesday. Margiris for non-compliance with the obligation to land the species caught, when the vessel declared a fishing incident that led to the rejection of tens of thousands of dead fish.
The complaint was filed in Lorient, said Sea Shepherd. “We gave them different elements on what we could see on the spot,” said Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France. The NGO filmed and photographed a huge school of dead blue whiting floating in the Bay of Biscay off La Rochelle on Thursday.
“They reject to make room for higher added value”
“When some vessels catch a very large quantity of fish with very low market value, such as blue whiting, they reject them to make room with higher added value, which is strictly illegal,” says Lamya Essemlali.
The European association of pelagic freezer trawlers (PFA) explained this rejection, declared by the factory vessel to the competent authorities, by a “substantial and unusual density in this area, of the school of fish targeted” which led to a rupture of the trawl.
Opening an investigation
The Minister of the Sea Annick Girardin announced on Friday that she had requested the opening of an administrative investigation. She also clarified that the accident had been declared in the vessel’s logbook and that these fish would be removed from her quota. European Commissioner for Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius also announced via Twitter the opening of an investigation.
“There was an unauthorized discharge”, observes the Ministry of the Sea. flag, in this case Lithuania, with a copy to the European Commission to ensure that the flag State takes legal or administrative action” against the ship, according to the same source.