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Preserving the ocean and marine animals, “far from sight and conscience”: the struggles of Sea Shepherd France
Preserving the ocean and marine animals, “far from sight and conscience”: the struggles of Sea Shepherd France
(SPECIAL SUBJECT / FRANCE 2)
“We are the greatest force of destruction of life that this planet has ever known, we have a colossal responsibility.” For the defense of the oceans and marine animals, Lamya Essemlali founded the French branch of the NGO Sea Shepherd. In this extract from a portrait broadcast in “Envoyéspecial” on May 2, 2024, she presents some of her missions.
Every year since 2018, Sea Shepherd France has warned about the fate of dolphins in the Bay of Biscay. As part of the “Dolphin ByCatch” operation, NGO activists exhibit in front of institutions (town halls, National Assembly, European Parliament, etc.) the remains of cetaceans victims of fishing nets. With this message on a banner: “Thousands of dolphins like these are massacred every year in France so that you eat fish.”
With the situation becoming critical for the survival of the species (with a number of captures that exceeds the maximum threshold by five times), the government ended up hearing from Sea Shepherd France and the other environmental NGOs who had filed an appeal in 2021. In the Bay of Biscay, in an area stretching from the Basque Country to Finistère, fishing has been banned for one month (from January 20 to February 20, 2024)… to the great discontent of many fishermen.
“I understand the distress of some fishermen, but they must understand that this is only a foretaste of what awaits them, of what awaits us all, if we cannot preserve the marine ecosystem.”
The President of Sea Shepherd France, regarding the temporary ban on fishing in the Bay of Biscay,in “Special Envoy”
At the origin of Sea Shepherd, there is Captain Paul Watson, who founded the NGO in 1977. As for its French branch, it was created in 2006 and is directed by Lamya Essemlali, whose “Special Envoy” broadcasts a portrait on May 2, 2024. But Sea Shepherd France’s missions are not limited to France… In Mayotte, it leads campaigns against the poaching of turtles, killed with machetes when they come to lay their eggs on the beaches; in the Faroe Islands, campaigns against the massacres of pilot dolphins…
The latest mission is called “Ocean Killers”, and its objective is to “shining the spotlight on factory ships”. The team therefore embarked on the English Channel to follow “these giant trawlers which can be up to 130 meters long, catch up to 600 tonnes of fish” and watch over them… Because “the great drama of the ocean, notes Lamya Essemlali, it’s that what happens at sea stays at sea, and that it’s far from sight and conscience.”
Excerpt from “Don’t touch my ocean”, a broadcast report in “Special Envoy” on May 2, 2024.
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