Recently, a protest took place against the exploitation of the world’s largest trawler in Saint-Malo. This project has brought back into the spotlight the political debate regarding fishing regulations, reinforced by images revealed by the L214 association, showing the behind-the-scenes of fish stalls from this devastating fishing. Analysis.
In February, 200 people gathered in Saint-Malo to protest against the exploitation of the world’s largest pelagic trawler. With its 143 meters in length, which prevent it from entering the Breton port, the vessel nicknamed “Annelies Ilena” is a true ecological aberration. Its mission: to tow a huge funnel-shaped net for industrial surimi production. This project, although carried out by a private company, has reopened the debate on this condemnable fishing technique on many levels.
The arrival in Brittany of the world’s largest pelagic trawler reopens the debate on a fishing technique responsible for the majority of carbon emissions in the sector. © Eric Sorenson, Shipspotting
A financing that also costs the climate
On the public finance side, it should be noted that industrial fishing is funded by taxpayers. In other words, it is the citizens’ taxes that pay for the fuel of fishing vessels, and trawlers are the most fuel-hungry. They supply large retailers with cheap fish, allowing them to increase their profit margins instead of better compensating the fishermen’s work.
The startup Unseenlabs detects illicit practices at sea through a cleverly positioned satellite network. Illegal fishing or sea dumping could thus be more easily condemned by governments. © Futura
In terms of climate, trawlers are responsible for 57% of the CO2 emissions from the fishing sector, even though they do not represent a quarter of the fleet. The alarming figures regarding climate change and the collapse of species on Earth abound, forcing a rethink of human activities to make them compatible with planetary limits. However, it seems that the urgency is not shared by everyone, the latest evidence being the fisheries roadmap just adopted by the Brittany Regional Council, proposing, among other things, a “hydrogen” trawl as an “ecological” solution.
1,000 billion fish killed on board trawlers each year
On the ethics side, the terrible images of an investigation by L214 illustrate the contradictory statements of industry and politicians. Filmed by the Soko Tierschutz association on board French and British trawlers fishing in the English Channel in 2021, they reveal a fishing practice that usually takes place out of sight. The long agonies of fish and other marine animals on the deck of a boat are observed. They suffocate for several hours and are mutilated while still alive and conscious. Every year in the world, over 1,000 billion fish are killed by decompression, suffocation, or live cutting. These images were shown to Lynne Sneddon, the biologist who proved the existence of nociceptors, or pain receptors, in fish. She thus recalls the scientific consensus on sensitivity in aquatic vertebrates and strongly condemns this fishing technique.
Despite this observation, this method is maintained and encouraged by industrial lobbies, completely ignoring the ongoing climate and biological collapse: currently, European waters are the most trawled in the world, and French waters among the least protected on the globe. It’s high time to initiate a social and ecological transition of fisheries.