At first glance, one might think that it is a fuel oil slick that extends off the Bay of Biscay. On closer inspection, there are actually thousands of dead fish lying on the surface of the water. A discovery made Thursday, February 3 by the NGO Sea Shepherd, which evokes what could be a fishing accident. A commodity that was not intended to be fished, thrown overboard.
It didn’t take long for the authorities to react. “I asked for an administrative investigation”, declared the Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, this Friday to the press during a visit to Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). She met professionals from the fishing industry there. According to the NGO founded by Paul Watson, which posted on social networks photographs of dead fish floating on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean as well as an impressive video, “more than 100,000 fish were thrown back into the sea” 300 km from La Rochelle.
According to Sea Shepherd, the incident came from the Margiris, one of the largest fishing vessels in the world, 143 m long and flying the Lithuanian flag. This boat, managed by a Dutch company, is even ‘banned in Australia’ since the mobilization of fishermen and inhabitants against its arrival in national waters. the Margiris, it is a net 600 meters long. A boat capable of holding up to 6,000 tonnes of fish. According to the minister, “The ship identified itself at the end of the race. The shipowner recognized an accident on board, it was a net that dropped”, she added.
“A species subject to quotas”
“At 0550 GMT today, a PFA member ship, the Margiris, reported […] a fishing incident off La Rochelle“, tweeted on Thursday evening the European association of pelagic freezer trawlers (PFA). “Rarely, the trawl containing blue whiting, a species subject to quotas, accidentally broke, thus involuntarily releasing fish into the sea”, added the PFA. Blue whiting is usually destined to make surimi.
“Dead fish will be removed from the boat’s quota”assures Annick Girardin. “France defends sustainable fishing and this does not reflect it. If an infringement were to be proven, sanctions would be taken against the shipowner responsible, who will be identified.said in a tweet the minister of the sea.
A disaster which unfortunately perfectly illustrates the winter awareness campaign of the NGO Sea Shepherd, which has been campaigning for years to ban winter fishing in the Bay of Biscay and protect dolphins. On the European Commission side, we also took up the subject. The Commissioner for the Environment, the Lithuanian Virginijus Sinkevicius, announced on Twitter that a “investigation” was launched “with the national authorities of the fishing zone (France) and the presumed flag State of the vessel (not known at this stage, since there is no certainty about the boat), in order to obtain comprehensive information and evidence on the case”.