Greenpeace swimmers disrupt dolphin-killing trawlers

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Greenpeace swimmers disrupt dolphin-killing trawlers

 

Last edited: 3/8/05

 

Greenpeace activists today continued their campaign to

protect dolphins

in

the Channel by trying to stop two French 'pair

trawlers' from fishing

for

sea bass. Greenpeace swimmers put themselves in the

path of the two

vessels

Sonia Jerome and Cote d'Amour in an attempt to stop

them pair trawling

- a

fishing method that traps and drowns dolphins in the

giant net towed

between

the two vessels.

 

Just hours previously, around 9am, observers onboard

the Greenpeace

ship

Esperanza discovered a dead dolphin approximately 50

miles south of

Plymouth, in UK waters, bearing the telltale injuries

of having been

caught

and killed in a fishing net. Within a 12-mile radius

of the body, eight

sets

of French pair trawlers, 16 boats in all, carried on

fishing. The

female

dolphin was lactating, indicating that she had

recently given birth.

 

This is the first time that direct action has been

taken against French

pair

trawlers, who form the majority of the pair trawl

fleet fishing for sea

bass

in the Channel. The fleet is estimated to kill

thousands of dolphins

every

year.

 

Two Greenpeace swimmers entered the water in the path

of the Sonia

Jerome

and Cote d'Amour at 11.15am today close to the area

where the dead

dolphin

was earlier recovered. The swimmers, holding on to

buoys emblazoned

'Stop

Killing Dolphins' and the French equivalent 'Stop Au

Massacre Des

Dauphins',

were swept aside in the wake of the trawlers and

picked up by a

Greenpeace

inflatable boat.

 

In recent days, Greenpeace has successfully stopped UK

pair trawlers

from

fishing on two occasions.

 

Greenpeace is concerned that government observers on

UK sea bass

trawlers

last year recorded 169 dolphins killed in the huge net

dragged between

two

boats. Government figures estimate that the UK fleet

alone was

responsible

for the deaths of 439 dolphins last year. The UK and

French fleets

combined

could be killing over 2,000 dolphins a year.

 

According to the environmental group, Ben Bradshaw,

the Fisheries

Minister,

has consistently failed to take the necessary measures

to protect

dolphins

around the UK.

 

Sarah Duthie, Greenpeace oceans campaigner onboard the

Esperanza, said:

" We

shouldn't have to do this. But we have no choice,

given Bradshaw's

shameful

lack of concern for dolphins and failure to address

the thousands of

dolphin

deaths caused by pair trawlers every year.

 

" The dead dolphin we discovered today was surrounded

by pair trawlers.

This

ridiculously destructive form of fishing must be

banned. "

 

The Esperanza left Falmouth on the 17 February to

campaign for a ban on

pair

trawling for sea bass in the Channel. An independent

team of

researchers

from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS)

is on board to

further assess the conservation and welfare threats to

whale, dolphin

and

porpoise populations.

 

Greenpeace want the government to investigate, which

other fishing

methods

are also killing dolphins and porpoises and take

action. Worldwide, the

unintentional capture in fishing nets of dolphins,

porpoises and other

marine species is recognised to be a major problem. It

is estimated to

kill

some 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises a year.

Overall it has been

estimated that 23% of the global fisheries catch is

returned, dead, to

the

sea.

 

Further information

For more information please contact the Greenpeace

press office on 020

7865

8255.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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