Since January 22 and until February 20 inclusive, fishing is prohibited in the Bay of Biscay to all boats of eight meters or more equipped with certain models of nets.
More than 450 vessels are concerned, including gillnetters, bolinchers and pelagic trawlers.
At the origin of this unprecedented “spatiotemporal ban”: a decision by the Council of State aimed at protecting small cetaceans (dolphins and porpoises).
Between 5,000 and 10,000 of them are accidentally caught by fishermen each year.
Like these professionals, the National Fisheries Committee (CNPMEM) firmly contests these figures and denounces “a mortal blow to the industry”.
In recent days, the Pelagis observatory – a joint unit of the University of La Rochelle and the CNRS – published a note to recall the current state of scientific knowledge.
Between December 2022 and March 2023, 1,314 small cetaceans – including 91% common dolphins – were discovered on the coasts between Cotentin and the Basque Country.
Last December, 120 individuals were found – 42 in the first half of January.
The most affected departments are now Vendée, Charente-Maritime and Finistère.
“These mortality episodes are largely associated with interactions with fishing gear,” Pelagis states bluntly.
“It’s worrying”
Nearly 75% of the common dolphins stranded last winter died “by capture in fishing gear”, according to the La Rochelle observatory.
Additional autopsies carried out on 47 individuals “confirmed death by accidental capture in 68% of cases”.
Between 2019 and 2022, scientists estimate that total mortality induced by fishing gear will reach an average of 7,000 common dolphins per year – some of the carcasses sink and disappear at sea without leaving the slightest trace.
This level of capture is not sustainable, recalls the International Council for the Exploitation of the Sea (ICES).
“The threshold not to be exceeded, in its most optimistic version, is 5,000 catches in all European waters, from Gibraltar to the north of Scotland.
The most pessimistic is at 900,” underlines Olivier Van Canneyt, design engineer at Pelagis.
These thresholds are calculated based on an estimated population of 635,000 animals for the entire northeast Atlantic.
“However, they have been exceeded every year since 2016 in the Bay of Biscay alone.
It’s worrying,” summarizes Olivier Van Canneyt.
Over the last 20 years, the longevity of small cetaceans has also decreased, a sign of increased pressure on these populations.
In the current state of scientific knowledge, ICES recommends closing fishing for three months in winter and one month in summer, periods during which mortality peaks are concentrated.
“The consequences of stopping the use of the most risky devices in the Bay of Biscay in 2024 can only be assessed at the end of winter,” warns the Pelagis observatory.