Last week, the NGO Sea Shepherd revealed that it had discovered five corpses of mutilated and disembowelled dolphins on the coast of the Bassin d’Arcachon, in Gironde. This phenomenon returns regularly to the beaches of the Atlantic coast and according to the League for the Protection of Birds, since December, more than 300 corpses of small cetaceans, the vast majority of common dolphins protected by law, have been discovered on the French coasts.
Faced with this scourge, fifteen deputies from all political persuasions decided to step up. This Sunday, they asked the government to act by banning non-selective fishing techniques for a month.
“A winter suspension of non-selective fishing techniques in the most sensitive areas remains the only option to effectively protect dolphins,” they write in a column published by Sunday newspaper.
Led by the elected environmentalist of Gironde, Nicholas Thierry, these parliamentarians come from EELV, LFI, Renaissance, but also Horizons, the Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories group, the MoDem and the Socialist Party.
Suspend non-selective fishing for one month
“The government has decided on measures to document the phenomenon and repel dolphins from fishing areas using acoustic repellents,” recall the deputies, but “the massacre continues, we must go further. “We join our voices with those of scientists and NGOs to demand more effective action in the face of the ongoing massacre on our shores. We ask the government to suspend non-selective fishing techniques for one month in risky areas of the Atlantic seaboard. This interruption must be accompanied by compensation for the fishermen concerned to make up for the shortfall. Some of them are already in favor of it”.
On Wednesday, the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) had called for an interruption of at least a month of certain fishing practices suspected of having caused the death of animals.