Scheduled to open in 2023, the oceanographic center of Dieppe (Seine-Maritime) will be one of the most impressive in Europe.
Supported by Aqua Invest, it will house over 16,000 m2 more than 1,400 marine and freshwater species, a hundred ponds, an abyssal pit 56 meters deep ... With the added bonus of significant economic benefits with its 500,000 visitors every year.
At a time of global warming and the protection of biodiversity, such a juggernaut is however ticking the environmental associations like “Enough!
Which has joined forces with the Animal Party to launch a petition that has collected nearly 47,000 signatures.
“It's a project from the world before,” fulminates Christine Grandjean, the president of the association for the defense of marine animals.
"Not here to make money by showing fish"
“The energy consumed to heat these gigantic basins where fish are exposed with contempt for their well-being, that must no longer exist.
And even if there is no longer any recourse possible, we hope to alert the Ministry of Ecological Transition so that we stop giving such authorizations ”.
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A trained aquarist, Pascal Coutand will manage the animals in captivity.
In his eyes, this petition is far from reflecting the reality of a site "where the vast majority of species will come from farms".
He insists on the coherence of the project.
"We are not here to make money by showing fish, but on the contrary by offering a place different from what currently exists and which contributes to the preservation of biodiversity in the world".
And since he claims to want to do so in full transparency, he invites associations "to come and discuss to show them what will be done in Dieppe".
