Sea Shepherd Ship Arrives in France for Campaign Against Dolphin Slaughter
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 19, 2019
Sea Shepherd’s ship, the M/Y Sam Simon, has arrived off the Atlantic Coast of France to join the organization’s campaign Operation Dolphin ByCatch, exposing the ongoing slaughter of dolphins by industrial fishing vessels in the Bay of Biscay. A veteran of several anti-whaling missions in Antarctica and illegal fishing campaigns in West Africa, the Sam Simon is a former Japanese whaling ship converted by Sea Shepherd into a defender of marine life. It will be joining the organization’s small boats which have been patrolling the coast since February 11, 2019.
Over the past six weeks, 600 dead dolphins have washed up on French beaches in the Vendée, Charente Maritime, and Gironde. These deaths are only the tip of the iceberg, since more than 80% of the corpses, often gutted, sink at sea. Most of the bodies found are mutilated, with severed fins, gaff hook marks, deep cuts, and broken rostrums consistent with capture in fishing gear. These dolphins, which spend winter in the Bay of Biscay, are victims of non-selective fishing operations (including trawlers, Danish seiners, and gillnetters) targeting sea bass and hake for the French market. According to scientists who have been documenting the deaths, the dolphins are also being killed by French and foreign vessels engaged in industrial fishing for surimi and fishmeal further offshore.
“We are faced with an absurd fisheries policy that allows extremely destructive and non-selective fishing gear in sensitive areas during the sea bass breeding season where protected species such as dolphins are particularly vulnerable to capture,” said Lamya Essemlali, President of Sea Shepherd France.
“We’re tired of seeing scientists' alerts being ignored year after year, and the indifference of the Fisheries Committees and the Ministry, which have been pretending to be working on the problem for 20 years,” states Essemlali. “Sea Shepherd has decided to patrol the area night and day. We will focus on the silent extermination of dolphins off our coast in order to finally hold fishermen, politicians and consumers accountable.”
For more information about Operation Dolphin ByCatch: https://www.seashepherdglobal.org/latest-news/france-dolphins/
###
Hi-res photos: Https://minerva.seashepherdglobal.org/share.cgi?ssid=0iFrbua
Captions (credit Tara Lambourne/Sea Shepherd):
190123-SS3-TL-VikingAndSam-01-IMG_1404: Sea Shepherd’s M/Y Sam Simon and small boat Viking on patrol in the Bay of Biscay the weekend of February 16-17, 2019.
190217-DB-TL-DayTrawler-01-IMG_6501: Day trawler, based in Les Sables-d'Olonne, France.
190217-DB-TL-NightTrawler-01-IMG_6294: Night trawler, based in Les Sables-d'Olonne, France.
190217-DB-TL-SmallBoatAndTrawler-01-IMG_6405: Sea Shepherd’s small boat Viking on patrol, with trawler from Les Sables-d'Olonne, France.
190217-DB-TL-SmallBoats-01-IMG_6433: Sea Shepherd’s small boats Viking and Thunder on patrol in the Bay of Biscay.
190217-DB-TL-TrawlingInTwosNight-01-IMG_6207: Two night trawlers from Les Sables-d'Olonne, France.
For more information, images, or video footage, contact:
Heather Stimmler, Sea Shepherd Global
Tel +339 7719 7742
media@seashepherdglobal.org
Lamya Essemlali, Sea Shepherd France
media@seashepherd.fr
Sea Shepherd Global
Sea Shepherd is an international non-profit marine conservation movement using innovative tactics and direct action to defend, conserve and protect the worlds oceans and marine wildlife. Founded by Paul Watson in 1977, today Sea Shepherd is a worldwide movement with independent national and regional entities in over 20 countries, united by a common mission and a fleet of eleven ships on campaigns around the world. Sea Shepherd investigates and documents violations of international and national conservation law, and enforces conservation measures where legal authority exists. For more information, visit: http://www.seashepherdglobal.org/
Tags:
