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A one-month suspension of fishing in the Bay of Biscay to avoid accidental catches of cetaceans kicked off this week, prompting heightened controversy and ramping up pressure for monetary compensation.
The temporary ban concerns around 40 large vessels (over 8 metres) from Spain and 350 from France. It runs from 22 January to 20 February 2025 and aims to protect small cetaceans such as dolphins, whose mortality rate has soared in recent years.
While according to the EU decision, the suspension will be reconfirmed next year, Olivier le Nezet, chairman of the French National Fishing Committee, wants the restriction to be a one-off measure.
“We’re fighting to ensure that all the boats concerned are compensated under the best possible conditions and that as many of the vessels as possible can return to sea” in 2026, said le Nezet said in a press release on 21 January.
Spanish fishermen, meanwhile, are on the warpath. Interviewed by Spanish media company RTVE, Mikel Ortiz, the director of the Ondarroa producer organisation in the Basque Country, where two trawlers have stopped fishing, asked the European Commission for an immediate exemption from the ban.
Although temporary, the fishing restriction will result in a loss of earnings of “€100,000 to 120,000 – a real ruin,” Ortiz added.
French and Spanish fishermen are demanding relief for the immediate economic impact of the measure.
Paris minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said that the French would be compensated to the tune of 80 to 85% of their turnover, while “Spanish fishermen will be compensated between 40 and 46%.” Asked for confirmation, however, Madrid ministry did not comment at the time of publication.
Fishermen insist on the economic losses the move would inflict on the whole industry. In France, auctions and cooperatives, for example, are not compensated.
“This represents an estimated loss of revenue of €30 million, which will only be partially offset by (the) €20 million” earmarked for the industry, said French MEP Isabelle Le Callennec (EPP) in a recent press release.
The European Commission is calling on Member States to develop risk-reduction technologies such as pingers (acoustic deterrents for dolphins and other cetaceans) and cameras on the vessels concerned, so that fishing can resume in 2027.
For the moment, only half of French trawlers are equipped with pingers. A national law is mandating that, by the end of October 2025, 100 gillnetters and 15 trawlers will have to be fitted with on-board cameras.
Meanwhile, French observatory Pelagis evidenced the link between fishing and dolphin mortality in December, showing that, in 2024, when France suspended fisheries activities, cetaceans deaths tumbled by 76%.
The scientists clarified, however, that there remain uncertainties about potential additional causes, such as fish migrations and water temperature.
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The post Dolphin-saving ban sparks Spanish and French fishermen outrage appeared first on Energy News Beat.
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