Sauvons les dauphins !

Thousands of dolphins die each year in the EEC waters.

European industriel shipowners, who use the pelagic nets, are responsible for this slaughter.

What exactly is a pelagic trawler ?

Imagine a giant of sometimes up to 30 000 square metres, the size of 3 foot ball pitches, being pulled along by 2 boats. A bottomless pit swallowing everything as it goes past. This is equipment which is even more devastating than the often criticised (drifting fishing nets) whose use will be forbidden as from 2002.

The pelagic trawler will scrape up absolutely anything, half of which will be thrown back overboard given the nature of its non selective catch where all the fish are mixed up. Consequently several thousands of tons of dead fish and cetacean end up back in the sea.

Anne COLLET, biologist and specialized in marine mammals, estimates the losses of between 5000 to 10 000 dolphins annually on the European Coastline.