On Wednesday 27 November, the European Parliament will vote on a proposal by the Patriots for Europe Group (PfE) to object to a delegated regulation containing measures to protect dolphins during fishing in the Bay of Biscay.
In particular, the group believes that the delegated regulation is based on “fragmentary” preliminary data from Pelagis and that the data has “unjustly penalised the fishing activities in the Bay of Biscay”.
From 22 January to 20 February 2025, fishing will be banned for one month in the Bay of Biscay for certain categories of fishing boats.
Yvan Verougstraete (Renew Europe, Belgian) points out that 10,000 dolphins die every year on the Atlantic coast. “If this objection finds a majority in the European Parliament, the dolphin rescue plan would simply be sunk”, he warns.
At the end of September, the European Commission presented a delegated regulation setting out measures for 2025 to prevent incidental catches of dolphins and other small cetaceans in the Bay of Biscay (see EUROPE 13493/17, 13333/16).
Link to the PfE Group resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/ehp (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)