With broken tails, severed fins and deep wounds on the body. Hundreds of dolphins were found dead piled on top of each other on a French beach.
With broken tails, severed fins and deep wounds on the body. Hundreds of dolphins were found dead piled on top of each other on a French beach.
The sad discovery was made by Sea Shepherd in Les Sables d'Olonne, on the Atlantic coast of France near La Rochelle. The mutilated corpses are those of dolphins accidentally killed by the fishing industry.
And experts fear that trawling threatens the survival of the French dolphin population, because not only fish from the food industry end up in the nets but also whales, turtles and even sharks that have been injured or killed 'by mistake'.
This dramatic image was disseminated by Sea Shepherd, the international organization for the conservation of the oceans.
Since last December, volunteers have found around 700 dead dolphins on the beach, but it is estimated that every year, at least 6 are killed along the west coast of France for this reason.
“They cut off their fins and tails to remove them from the nets in order not to damage the nets themselves which are worth more than the life of a poor dolphin,” explains Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France.
What happens to stranded corpses? Once a week, local authorities collect the carcasses and send them to a processing plant to become feed for the livestock industry, for fish and even for pets.
“Dolphins are a sensitive species and are very slow to reproduce. Their decline is visible. If we want to see them in the future it is urgent to take immediate measures to protect them, ”says a Sea Shepherd spokesperson.
And he concludes:
"However, France is turning a deaf ear to all warnings from scientists and the fishermen involved continue to take advantage of public ignorance."
Read also:
- Here are the marine areas of the Mediterranean that are dying from trawling
- Electric fishing, victory: the European Parliament votes for a definitive ban
Dominella Trunfio
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