(RPT FB, without change)
Jan 22 (Reuters) – A ban on French net fishing in the Bay of Biscay, which aims to limit accidental captures of dolphins, came into force on Monday for a month, leading to the immobilization of nearly of 450 fishing vessels.
Requested by three environmental associations, the Council of State ordered the French government in March 2023 to periodically close fishing zones in the Bay of Biscay to boats over eight meters.
According to Olivier Le Nezet, president of the National Committee for Fisheries and Marine Farming, nearly 450 vessels are affected by the ban, which runs until February 20 and which, according to him, threatens French artisanal fishing.
“It is a full-blown attack from certain environmental associations which are not there to defend small-scale fishing, but rather to be the gravediggers of small-scale fishing and French and European artisanal fishing,” he said on Monday. on franceinfo.
The Council of State had argued that since 2018, the number of deaths of small cetaceans by accidental capture attributable to fishing activities exceeded each year the maximum limit to ensure a favorable conservation status in the North-East Atlantic. (Written by Diana Mandiá, edited by Sophie Louet)
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