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NGO criticized: Thousands of fish dumped back into the sea
No, these are not whitecaps on the Atlantic waves, these are dead fish. Lots of dead fish. They come from the FV Margiris, the second largest fish trawler in the world. According to the marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd. According to their information, there were around 100,000 blue whiting. Fish that are processed by industry into fishmeal or oil, for example. A rupture in the net resulted in the loss of the fish, according to the PFA fishing group, which represents the trawler’s Dutch owner. A statement spoke of a “very rare occurrence”. Lamya Essemlali of Sea Shepherd France doubts the portrayal. She assumes that the crew threw unwanted bycatch overboard. “That’s forbidden. The bycatch has to be taken into the port and declared. According to the procedure of the EU regulations, it’s quite time-consuming and expensive to do that. You drive into the port, unload the bycatch and then it’s back to sea Sea. So the temptation to dispose of the bycatch at sea, with no inspection, no witnesses, just dumping it overboard is great. That way they can stay put and keep fishing.” French Minister of the Sea Annick Girardin called the images taken by the organization shocking. The competent authority will investigate the case. According to the non-profit organization, FV Margiris was banned from Australian waters in 2012. Trawlers like the Margiris use trawls more than a kilometer long and process the fish on board. Environmentalists sharply criticize this procedure, since it deprives dolphins of their livelihood and forces them closer to the coast. They often got caught in fishing nets and died. Tracking data on Friday showed that the Lithuanian-flagged trawler is still off the coast of France.
The non-profit organization Sea Shepherd suspects the crew of the world’s second largest fishing trawler of illegally dumping bycatch at sea. Representatives of the fishing group speak of a crack in the net.