“We are walking on our heads”, reacts the lawyer for the NGO Sea Shepherd who estimates that “10,000 dolphins” are caught in the nets of trawlers each year

“We are walking on our heads, we must review the management of fishing in France”, alert this Sunday on franceinfo, Jean Tamalet, lawyer for the Sea Shepherd association. The NGO has once again filed a complaint against X after the discovery this Saturday in the Bay of Biscay of a mutilated and scarified dolphin with the inscription “Sea Shepherd PD” (sic). “It is estimated that there are around 10,000 dolphins caught in trawler nets each year”continues the lawyer, who deplores a lack of action by the public authorities.

franceinfo: How was this mutilated dolphin discovered?

John Tamalet: Each year, the Sea Shepherd association organizes operations to observe the hauling of nets. The fishermen are filmed. A law obliges them to declare to the prefecture the catches of dolphins known as “accidental”. But only 1.5% of catches are declared. As soon as a dolphin is captured, a complaint is filed and the images are broadcast. More than a hundred procedures are in progress. But almost all of the complaints are dismissed without serious research by the authors of these catches. In this specific case, Sea Shepherd is named by name. This is the second time that a dolphin has been scarified in this way.

What should be done to stop these so-called “accidental” catches?

A fight must be led by the public authorities. It is estimated that 10,000 dolphins are caught each year in the nets of trawlers on the French coasts. When in one night you have up to ten dolphins captured and it’s like that every night, how can you call it “accidental catches” ? We need to review the entire fisheries policy, ask the right questions about overfishing and the subsidy systems that are feeding a market that is going on its head. All of that needs to be put on the table.

You have already challenged the Secretary of State for the Sea and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. Have there been any responses?

There is a dialogue, but it is not always constructive. There is no concrete observation of net hauls, for example. We are told about beacons to repel cetaceans from trawlers. But the right solution is to completely review our techniques and our fishing areas. And think about the excessive consumption of fish. We are walking on our heads, we must review the management of fishing in France, which is still the second largest seaboard in the world.