Sea Shepherd looks back on this ecological disaster

A slick of dead fish filmed off La Rochelle, in the Bay of Biscay, which extends over approximately 3000 square meters. According to the NGO, we can speak of hundreds of thousands of fish that have been thrown back into the water. The images were shot from the Age of Union, the Sea Shepherd boat. The ship is located in an area around which its crew spotted four giant trawlers, including the world’s second largest, the Margiris. The fish are generally piled up in nets such as the Margiris net which is 600 meters long by 200 meters wide. “When it is open, so it is absolutely gigantic, you can enter airliners without any problem, without them touching each other“, explains Thomas Le Coz, the captain of the ship Age of Union.

Sea Shepherd is currently investigating to find out which vessel dumped this colossal amount of fish. If we dwell on the conclusions of the European association of pelagic freezer trawlers, this would be due to an accident on board the Margiris. A net would be “accidentally broken, thereby unintentionally releasing fish into the sea“Another hypothesis is put forward: that of the practice of high-grading which consists in rejecting marketable fish at sea, while waiting to catch more expensive fish. Annick Girardin, the Minister of the Sea, for her part assured that “France defended sustainable fishing” that “is not a reflection“and that it will not be without consequences.