On Wednesday 10 July, some 20 NGOs called on the European Commission to put pressure on 15 EU countries to take action to protect dolphins that are caught accidentally during fishing operations.
In a letter to the Commission, 25 NGOs, including France Nature Environnement, ClientEarth and Seas at Risk, are calling on the Commission to open infringement proceedings against 15 countries (France, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) for failing to comply with Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wildlife.
At the end of April, a review by the French specialised monitoring centre Pelagis indicated that, of the 1,200 cetaceans stranded on the Atlantic coast during the winter, about 85% of the carcasses showed scarring caused by fishing nets. The NGOs also ask that the Commission impose the closure of “risky” fisheries during the next winter, from early December to late March 2020, in particular for gillnet and pelagic trawl fisheries.
NGOs are concerned about the state of the porpoise population in the Baltic Sea and call on the Commission to take “emergency measures”, including the closure of fisheries in protected marine areas.
To consult the NGO letter: https://bit.ly/2XHqXup (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)