Wednesday 22 March 2023

Grim news from France, lets hope they act!


Thanks to the efforts of our Sea Trust volunteers and supporters we know Common Dolphins are here in seemingly ever increasing numbers, but we don't know why. From what we have seen in and around Pembrokeshire in recent years we could be forgiven for thinking they were thriving! Maybe this is part of the answer...

 I was just sent this article By Rob Havard from an English/French newspaper "The Connection"By Hannah Thompson... .
France’s highest administrative court has ordered the government to introduce no-fishing zones in parts of the Atlantic after a spike in the number of dolphins washing up dead along the country’s western coastline.
The Conseil d’Etat wants that done in six months and also told Paris to better track the number of dolphins accidentally captured as part of fishing operations.
910 deaths over the winter
It comes after a report by marine observatory Pelagis revealing at least 910 small cetaceans - more than 90% of which are dolphins - had washed up dead on France’s Atlantic shoreline over the winter. This included around 500 washing up in a single 10-day period in March.
Most show signs of having been injured in fishing nets and equipment or boat engines, Pelagis said. It is still investigating.
The observatory said flights over the area had shown dolphin carcasses off the coasts of Vendée and Charente-Maritime between the beginning of February and the start of March. It said this indicated that dolphins were still dying in large numbers, even if the numbers washing up on the coast had dropped.
Later, in the single weekend of March 11-12, the wind changed, and “the number of dolphins washing up on the shoreline was unprecedented”, said Pelagis. At least 120 washed up in just two days, it said.
As of Monday, March 20, the group said it had counted at least 500 small cetaceans (dolphins and porpoises) washing up on the coast since March 10. The most common places were:
Charente-Maritime (27%)
Vendée (22%)
Landes (20%)
Gironde (15%)
Brittany (14%)
Dolphins at risk of disappearance
NGOs including Sea Shepherd have also been campaigning on the issue. Sea Shepherd filed a complaint against the government, saying that it had not done enough to protect the species. Its lack of action, the NGOs say, risks causing the dolphins to go extinct
from the Bay of Biscay.

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