00:00Back to France now, where a fishing ban begins today off most of the western coastline.
00:04The month-long ban is meant to cut the number of dolphins killed in fishing nets this time of year,
00:09but the moratorium has many French fishermen up in arms.
00:13Solange Mougin and France Television have the story.
00:17Returning to port after a long day on the water.
00:21Before the deadline to cease trawling,
00:23Julien Anesse was out catching as many fish as possible.
00:26For him, France's fishing ban is absurd.
00:30We already had 10 days of bad weather in early January.
00:33That means small boats will already be behind financially.
00:36This month-long ban needs to stop. End of story.
00:41For the second year running, boats that are over eight metres long
00:43are not allowed to fish in the Bay of Visquey from January 22nd to February 20th.
00:49The goal is to save the lives of thousands of dolphins.
00:52In the winter months, they're particularly present in these waters,
00:55and get caught and killed in trawler nets.
00:58Thrown overboard, many of them wash up along shorelines.
01:01Thousands are killed every year.
01:03But the near-month-long ban, which touches nearly all commercial fishing,
01:07also has an economic effect on the industry,
01:10even if financial compensation is given by the state.
01:17It's really frustrating because it's our livelihood.
01:20I don't understand it.
01:21A month does nothing because dolphins, for about a year now, we've got a lot of them.
01:28But studies show just the opposite.
01:31The thousands of dolphin deaths from fishing nets
01:33are putting the species at risk for regional extinction.
01:36And scientists say that last year's ban was successful.
01:40In just a month, the number of accidental deaths was divided by four.
01:45There are accidental bycatches all year long,
01:47but the number of them increases by a lot in the winter, between December and March.
01:52Last winter, we believe a total of 1,450 dolphins were killed as bycatch,
01:57whereas previous winters, the death toll was around 6,000 found dead.
02:01So we saw with the ban a steep drop last year.
02:05Other nations, like South Africa and Australia,
02:07have also enacted similar moratoriums, with equally positive results.
02:13That report from Solange Mougin, who joins me now on the set.
02:17Solange, tell us a bit more about this.
02:18Who does this ban affect to what degree?
02:20Like, what are the numbers?
02:21Well, this is the second time that the ban has gone into effect,
02:24and it's actually expected to be rolled out next winter as well.
02:27We'll get into the political and activist backstory on how this came about in a minute.
02:31But currently, this ban, as we just heard,
02:33runs from today, January 22nd until February 20th.
02:37It is expected to cease the activity of some 300 French and foreign fishing boats
02:42in the Bay of Biscay, or the Golfe de Gascogne, as it's called in French.
02:46So that is a massive chunk of French coastline
02:49that is essentially off-limits to most,
02:52if not all, commercial fishing for the next four weeks.
02:55The ban concerns essentially trawlers, or boats that cast wide nets or pull in unison nets
03:00to catch a whole slew of the different fish that we eat.
03:03Unfortunately, these nets also kill and trap dolphins
03:08that then wash up on France's shores a few days later,
03:11or they sink to the bottom of the ocean.
03:14So the real number of deaths is actually unknown.
03:16Now, the state has allocated a budget this year of 20 million euros
03:20to compensate the fishermen and the industry for this mandatory month off of fishing.
03:25So they will receive between 80 and 85 percent of their lost income.
03:29OK, so if they're being compensated, why is the fishing industry still so unhappy?
03:33Well, there is a psychological element of not being told you essentially can't do your job.
03:38And there is also still an economic impact.
03:40Some fishermen have complained that they didn't receive
03:43their compensation quickly enough last year.
03:45The government has now said that it will be faster this time.
03:49Also, the fishing industry claims that the overall impact
03:52of this ban is about 10 million euros more than what is being given.
03:57The environment and fishing minister replied to this in turn and said,
04:01hold on, Spanish fishermen are being compensated 46 percent.
04:05France's 85 percent isn't so bad.
04:08But beyond these economic numbers, there is a bigger picture here.
04:12And that is the conflict between industry protecting the environment and politics.
04:17All right, so give us a bit more of the back story.
04:18How did this one month ban first come about?
04:21Well, it's a lot of activism and it's a lot of political and judiciary stances backed by science
04:26on the dire need to protect the environment and to protect these mammals.
04:30According to Le Monde and the research group Pelagis,
04:33around 9000 common dolphins die every year off the Atlantic coast,
04:38with many of these deaths being from the fishing industry.
04:41That figure is nearly double the maximum number of 4900 deaths
04:46that can occur without the species being in danger.
04:48That is according to the CIEM, an international body that studies this.
04:53So too many dolphins are dying as well as other cetaceans.
04:57And they have been at least since the 1990s.
05:00And people along France's coastlines are noticing this
05:03with thousands of dolphins washing up in the winter.
05:06Now, a growing ecological consciousness has helped push for solutions,
05:10along with rather graphic campaigns by watchdogs
05:14and by environmentalist groups like Sea Shepherd
05:16that have rung alarm bells against these fishing methods.
05:20They are now on their eighth year of a campaign to save France's dolphin population
05:25and have in previous years not only filmed the practices of these fishing boats
05:30to prove that this is occurring,
05:31but also they have done protests in front of monuments like the Eiffel Tower
05:36with dead dolphins to raise awareness.
05:38Such campaigns have put pressure on politicians to act.
05:41In September last year, the EU sent out a directive about such a ban
05:45and France has enacted it last year for the first time.
05:49Now again, they're expected to do it again next year.
05:51France's constitutional court has also, when faced with legal challenges to this,
05:56said that it should be put in place at least until 2026
06:00with the hope of other solutions being found.
06:02All right, Solange.
06:03Thanks so much for that look at French fishing
06:05and that moratorium that goes on for a month.
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