The month-long ban off the country's West coast -- the first since the end of World War II -- is set to begin Monday and applies to both French and foreign fishermen. It follows calls by environmental activists to protect the marine mammals, pointing to a surge in dolphin deaths on the Atlantic coast.
From Finistere in the extreme west of Brittany to the Spanish border, fishing will cease almost entirely until February 20.
On Thursday, the French government broadened the ban to all ships, regardless of origin, while promising to support fishermen and fishmongers. The ban was originally ordered by the country's top administrative court, the State Council.
CIEM, a scientific body that tracks North Atlantic ecosystems, has for years urged a winter pause for some indiscriminate fishing techniques, meeting fierce resistance from industrial fishermen.
The organisation estimates that around 9,000 dolphins die each year off the French Atlantic coast as a result of accidental capture.
The ban concerns boats longer than eight metres and will affect around 450 French vessels.
Fishermen and industry groups decried the temporary measure.
"It's absurd to stop businesses like this for a month," Raymond Millet, a fisherman from La Rochelle, a city on France's west coast, told AFP.
Millet, who has been a fisherman for the past forty years, said that vessels nine to 11 meters long "are not the kind of boats that fish for dolphins".
Franck Lalande, an owner of two boats in the southwestern city of Arcachon, said he feared the ban would cause "social problems".
He said the compensation payments promised by the authorities were insufficient.
The French National Fisheries Committee (CNPMEM) denounced "extremist NGOs", claiming that the marine mammals are "not endangered".
Fish processing companies estimate they could lose more than 60 million euros ($65 million) because of the ban.
On Thursday, the government promised to support the industry and would activate "partial unemployment measures and specific aid, if necessary".
Some fishermen hinted they might go out to sea despite the threat of prosecution, but local authorities promised to intensify patrols.
Philippe Garcia, head of an association called Protection of Aquatic Environments (DMA), said it was in fishermen's interest to observe the ban.
"If the fishermen don't play along, it's counter-productive for them," he said, as dolphin deaths would strengthen the environmentalists' case.
jed-tb-sb-as/ah/gv
Turkey hails iscovery of endangered leopard barbel fish
Ankara (AFP) Jan 18, 2024 -
Turkey on Thursday hailed the unexpected discovery of the leopard barbel fish -- listed as one of the most endangered in the world -- in the Tigris River.
Environmentalists say the spotted carp-like fish was last seen in the wild more than a decade ago and was feared to have become extinct.
Turkey's Agriculture Minister Ibrahim Yumakli called the leopard barbel "one of the 10 most sought-after fish in the world".
The discovery "is good news for the protection and development of our country's biodiversity," he said in a social media statement.
The fish was discovered by a team that included scientists from Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan University and members of the Re:wild and SHOAL conservationist programmes.
"There is nothing quite like the feeling of finding that a species that has been pushed to the brink of extinction is still hanging on, despite the odds," Recep Tayyip Erdogan University associate professor Cuneyt Kaya said.
The fish was once abundant in the rivers of eastern Turkey and parts of Syria and neighbouring Iran and Iraq.
Environmentalists say the fish suffered from pollution and dams set up along the Tigris and Euphrates River system to support local agriculture.
The Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature last month reported that 25 percent of the world's freshwater fish species were at risk of extinction.
"Freshwater ecosystems play a tremendous role in maintaining the overall health of our planet," Re:wild and SHOAL freshwater fish conservation programme manager Harmony Patricio said.
"We hope the rediscovery of the leopard barbel will serve as an inspiring catalyst for future freshwater biodiversity conservation efforts in this region."
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