More than 100,000 dead fish were discovered on Thursday, floating off the Bay of Biscay, 300 km from the French coast.
Forming a gigantic school, the corpses of these thousands of blue whiting were seen and then filmed by a team from the NGO Sea Shepherd, whose boat was sailing nearby.
According to the president of Sea Shepherd France, Lamya Essemlali, these thousands of fish were victims of "bycatch", carried out by a huge trawler, the Margiris, the second largest trawler in the world (142 m).
“It is an unfortunately common practice.
Fishermen bring up fish without wanting to and put them back in the water, even if they are dead, so as not to clutter up their holds.
Fishing for blue whiting is legal, but the fish, once caught, must legally be brought back to port.
It is a real looting in order, ”she denounces.
For his part, the owner of the factory ship, confirmed to be responsible for the carnage, but invokes "an accident on board" and "a fishing net which dropped".
A few hours after these shocking images were posted on social networks, the Minister of the Sea, Annick Girardin, requested the opening of an administrative investigation.
Nicknamed the "monster", the Margiris has had a bad reputation for several years now.
The juggernaut, which can catch and store up to 250 tonnes of fish in a single day, has already been banned in Australia, Ireland, Africa and Chile.
In 2019, British environmentalists also accused him of ruining the seabed.
"France must act for good against these practices and carry out real checks on these fishing boats," agrees the president of the NGO Sea Shepherd.
We are campaigning for cameras to be installed on these trawlers, as is the case in Australia”.
