The NGO Sea Shepherd discovered a huge school of dead fish in the Bay of Biscay and posted images and videos on social media on Thursday. A giant trawler explained having had a fishing accident.
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The Margiris vessel admitted to having had a fishing incident off La Rochelle on the morning of Thursday February 3, which led to the release of thousands of dead fish into the water, reports France Bleu La Rochelle by relaying a press release from the Association of European Pelagic Freezer Trawlers (PFA) dated Thursday evening. According to the international organization Sea Shepherd, which revealed this incident Thursday at midday by posting several photos and a video.
“Rarely, the trawl containing blue whiting – a species subject to quotas – broke accidentally, thus involuntarily releasing fish into the sea. In accordance with European legislation, the event as well as the quantities caught were recorded in the ship’s logbook and reported to the Lithuanian authorities, the ship’s country of registration”, explains the association.
Minister of the Sea Annick Girardin, who said she was shocked by these images on Twitter, asked the National Fisheries Monitoring Center to “shed light on this subject in order to identify the causes of these significant discards of fish” and ensure that “if an infringement were to be proven, sanctions would be taken against the responsible shipowner who will be identified”.