Dozens of beached dolphin carcasses washed up along the Atlantic coast on Monday, 13 March.
Environmental associations believe that this huge beaching is due to weather conditions in general, and ‘very strong fishing pressure’ in particular.
In 2022 669 dead dolphins were beached along the French coast. This happened between January and April which is the peak season for hake and sea-bass fishing, reported The Guardian. Although Sea Shepherd, an environmental organisation estimates that up to 11 000 dolphins were killed after being caught in fishing nets.
President of Sea Shepherd, Lamya Essemlali, said that the French government needs to review fishing methods to ensure that endangered species are not affected.
On Tuesday, 14 March, members of Sea Shepherd left several dolphin carcasses outside the European Parliament buildings in Strasbourg. This was done in an attempt to convince the European Union to force France to stop its non-selective fishing techniques.
Non-selective fishing techniques: when the fishing gear used doesn’t target a specific species, and any other sea creature can be caught and often injured or killed.
Étienne Caillaud, first deputy mayor of Ars-en-Ré, a coastal French village, said to Euro News in a statement, ‘We are always hurt by this kind of thing because we like dolphins, they are part of the ecosystem. They’re important to us, and to see, especially since we’re not the only ones obviously, there are dolphins all along the coast, and every year it’s more and more worrying to see so many animals arriving dead on the coast.’
Watch footage of the beached dolphins below:
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