The ocean off the coast of France is under attack, and French fishermen are currently embroiled in the largest French fishing scandal since last year’s Brexit-fueled scallop wars.
In this video by TIME we get the full story from Lamya Essemlali, director of Sea Shepherd France, a global ecological conservation society. Essemlali explains that over the last few months, 1,100 dolphins (most of them brutally mutilated) have been washed up on the shores of France. The main cause? France’s obsession with fish. As a country whose rich culinary traditions lean on the side of pesca-centric (especially along the coast), French people are used to their fish being cheap and readily available. But overfishing of animals like sea bass has resulted in dolphins getting caught in nets, with fishermen often not having the time or the inclination to release them safely back into the ocean.
François de Rugy, France’s ecology minister, has hinted at a new plan of action for decreasing the number of unnecessary marine deaths by using “acoustic repellent devices” to steer the animals away from fishing boats.
