1,100 dead dolphins washed up in France since January

Autopsies carried out on the dolphins by the National Center for Scientific Research show extreme levels of cruelty and brutality. The dolphins’ bodies were horribly mutilated, the fins cut off.

THOMAS ADAMSON: ‘The dolphins’ bodies were horribly mutilated, the fins cut off. But what shocked French marine researchers wasn’t just the brutality of the deaths of these highly intelligent mammals, but also the numbers involved  –  a record 1,100 have washed up on France’s Atlantic coast since January. The mass deaths, widely blamed on aggressive industrial fishing, have alarmed animal welfare groups and prompted France’s ecology minister to launch a national plan to protect them.

“There’s never been a number this high,” said Willy Daubin, a member of La Rochelle University’s National Center for Scientific Research. “Already in three months, we have beaten last year’s record, which was up from 2017 and even that was the highest in 40 years”… Autopsies carried out on the dolphins this year by La Rochelle University’s National Center for Scientific Research show extreme levels of mutilation.

Activists say a common practice is for fishermen to cut body parts off the suffocated dolphins after they are pulled up on the nets, to save the net itself… “The government needs to take responsibility and act – especially Macron, who said he wanted to protect ecology,” Lamya Essemlali, President of Sea Shepherd France, told The Associated Press.

She pointed to scientists who predict the current rates of fishing will likely drive the dolphin population to extinction… She suggested that aggressive hake fishing, which was given the green light three years ago after long ban, was a major factor. The spike in dolphin deaths also began three years ago… Global seafood consumption has more than doubled in the past 50 years, according to European Commission, a rate that rights groups have branded unsustainable’. SOURCE…

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