A group of international NGOs are taking legal action against French authorities for failing to protect seabirds against fishing gear entanglement.
ClientEarth, Sea Shepherd France and Défense des Milieux Aquatiques have launched legal action against the French authorities for failing to monitor and protect seabirds from fishing activities – at a time it said when several species are on the brink of extinction.
“Right now, more seabirds are dying in French waters than almost anywhere else in Europe. This tragedy is entirely avoidable - yet the French authorities have failed to act - even after the European Commission challenged them on this very issue,” said a representative from the NGOs.
“There is no time to lose, France must finally take responsibility and put in place the monitoring and mitigation measures that the law – and science – require.”
Caught as bycatch
Every year, tens of thousands of seabirds are killed off French coasts after becoming hooked or entangled in fishing gear – caught as bycatch during fisheries targeting species such as hake, sea bass and tuna.
Fishing gears such as longlines, gillnets and pelagic trawls – particularly those targeting hake, sea bass and tuna – can have a devastating impact on seabird populations. This catastrophe remains largely invisible, as most bycaught seabirds drown without ever washing ashore.
Bycatch has been identified as a major pressure - and in some cases, the single greatest pressure - on the conservation of several seabird species.
ClientEarth said that France records some of the highest seabird bycatch figures in Europe, impacting species such as the Balearic shearwater, the Northern gannet and the common guillemot.
These species are now classified as critically endangered, near threatened and endangered according to the IUCN Red List.
The NGOs have sent a formal notice to the French authorities demanding that existing EU laws aimed at protecting seabirds be properly enforced.
They said that France has failed to adequately collect data and implement measures to reduce bycatch, in breach of the Birds and Habitats Directives, the Technical Measures Regulation and other European laws.
This is despite solutions being well known and already being implemented in many countries, particularly in southern regions.
This legal action complements an infringement procedure previously opened by the European Commission against France for similar failings.
