Rob Horgan
TWO Spanish environmental groups have denounced illegal fishing crews for killing dolphins in the Bay of Algeciras.
PACMA and Verdemar have both submitted complaints that illegal tuna fishing in the Straits of Gibraltar is leading to the ‘unnecessary deaths of dolphins’.
PACMA, a political party that champions animal rights, is leading calls for an investigation into whether the crimes are being committed in Spanish or Gibraltarian waters.
“The death of these dolphins is done with clear malice,” a PACMA spokesman said. “The abuse of these dolphins should not go unpunished by any legislation, be it Spanish or British.
“We demand that the council of agriculture and fisheries open an investigation to shed light on the horrible death of these sensitive animals.”
Both groups claim dolphins are regularly killed after being caught up in nets from boats illegally fishing for tuna.
Verdemar claim there are ‘at least 15’ boats regularly fishing in the Straits without appropriate licences.
It’s the Bay of Gibraltar, not Algeciras.
STOP MURDERING THESE DOLPHINS. THEY ARE HARMLESS AND ARE LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN. THEY HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO RESCUE MANY PEOPLE AND ANIMALS FROM DROWNING OR BEING ATTACKED BY SHARKS. THERE HEART IS GOLD. PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW ANY COMMERCIAL FISHING FOR THE DOLPHINS.THEY ARE A BEAUTIFUL AND PLAYFUL SPECIES. SAVE THEM FROM THIS FATE.
No-one is fishing for dolphins, their death is a by-product of greedy morons trying to catch tuna. The dolphins (air-breathers) drown in the nets meant for other species .
Another handy by-product (from a Spanish point of view) is the spoiling of dolphin-spotting trips from Gib.
Both legal and ilegal fisheries are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of dolphins every year, thousands if we look at it from a global perspective.
Stefanjo, I don’t know where you get your info from, but Spain also has whale watching trips from Tarifa, and most dolphins and whales in the area are in spanish waters. In any case Gib whale watching vessels, less respectful with pods, are the ones that have a negative impact on the local populations.
PACMA has no idea about dolphins on the other hand. It is a sad reality but not done with “clear malice”. This is a political move, aimed at the regional gov, and creating public outrage to gain supporters.
Please contact me alexander@equinac.org for more info on these subjects, these news articles sometimes don’t reflect the true story (not Olive Press’ fault of course!) and that leads to incorrect beliefs about the issues at hand
Most commercial fishermen don’t give a damn about tomorrow only big profits today and this applies across the world. the Newfoundland banks fished out completely. Where are all the mackerel that used to be a feature of La Manche/the Channel and the western approaches, fished out by greedy Cornish and Spanish and catches sold to Russian factory ships.
Tuna won’t be around for much longer and the dolphins – as they don’t have a monetary value for the greedy commercial scum, they are less than nothing – what a shame the monkies fell out of the trees and not all of them became lunch for the predators.