dutch shocked by call to ban eu electric pulse fishing
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

for Dutch fishermen

Dutch shocked by call to ban EU electric pulse fishing

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Dutch shocked by call to ban EU electric pulse fishing

The European Parliament is demanding a ban on electric pulse fishing.
Scheveningen - Arab Today

The black clouds hanging over the boats in Dutch ports Friday were not the remnants of wild winter gales, but harbingers of another devastating storm brewing for Dutch fishermen.

On Tuesday, the European Parliament struck what may prove to be the death knell for some of the Dutch fishing fleet by demanding a ban on electric pulse fishing.

For the Dutch, who invented this experimental method of trawling the North Sea for fish, the decision came as a bombshell, spelling likely catastrophe.

In the northern village of Urk, Andries de Boer, a third generation fisherman, said he like many others now faced an uncertain future after investing heavily to equip their boats with the technology.

On the western coast, in the bustling port of Scheveningen near The Hague, his colleague Anton Dekker said he was "bewildered and extremely disappointed" by "this injustice".

Standing among the nets on his boat, his gaze was lost on the horizon as his crew prepared to head out into the cold North Sea for four days.

- 'It's electrifying' -

Pulse fishing involves dragging electrically charged lines just above the seafloor to shock marine life up from low-lying positions into trawling nets.

EU rules allow member states to equip up to five percent of their fleets with electrodes, and the method has been adopted in particular by Dutch vessels fishing for sole.

Some 84 Dutch boats use the practice, alongside just three Belgian vessels, representing 0.1 percent of the total European fishing fleet.

"Sole is a fish which hides under 10 centimetres of sand during the day. By sending out these little electric pulses, they come out of the sand and bingo, they're in the net," said Dekker.

"When you've been working for years to improve the environment and CO2 emissions, to catch fewer unwanted or small fish, and you've reached your goal -- which is what we believe -- to then see it reduced to nothing, is terrible," said de Boer bitterly.

In Urk, a 10th century village which used to be an island in Flevoland, fishermen have spent hundreds of thousands of euros after having won the go-ahead from the EU on an experimental basis.

But MEPs voted on Tuesday by 402 members to 232 in favour of the ban, while 40 abstained.

"It is a wonderful victory against a terribly harmful kind of fishing," said Yannick Jadot, a French member of the Greens party, who took part in the campaign against the practice.

But Pim Visser, the head of the Dutch fisherman's organisation VisNed, said the campaign had been based on "half-truths, non-facts, insinuations and allegations".

"It's a scandal, and a blow," he said, denying Jadot's accusations by insisting there was no terrible environmental harm.

On the contrary, the Dutch fishermen said: "The seabed is less disturbed" than by more traditional methods of fishing for sole,.

There is "no scientific basis for saying that electric fishing is not good," he added.

- 'Bruised fish' -

Researcher Adriaan Rijnsdorp, from the University of Wageningen, agreed. He is due to complete a study of the environmental effects next year.

"It's a very promising technique, which is important for limiting the damage which fishing inflicts on the ecosystem," he told the NOS public broadcaster.

But the row has increasingly pitted the Netherlands against France -- particularly after 200 top European chefs pledged to stop sourcing seafood obtained through electric pulse fishing.

"We refuse to work with seafood coming from a fishing method that condemns our future and that of the ocean," the chefs said in a text written by two-star Michelin chef Christopher Coutanceau.

They alleged that electric trawlers "produce catches of poor quality, fish which underwent stress and are often marked by post-electrocution bruises."

"It is impossible to work with such low-quality products."

"Nonsense," shot back Visser, insisting the Dutch were selling high-quality fish, and pointing to the beloved French delicacy of foie-gras, most often produced by force-feeding poultry to fatten their livers.

Tuesday's vote was just one step in a long battle, with the EU parliament now trying to strike a compromise with the European Commission, the bloc's executive, and the European Council, which groups the 28 member states.

Dutch fishermen say if a total ban is adopted, then they will need to use 40 million litres of diesel more a year to drag heavier nets, which will cut their revenues by some 20 percent.

Source: AFP

 

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

dutch shocked by call to ban eu electric pulse fishing dutch shocked by call to ban eu electric pulse fishing

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

dutch shocked by call to ban eu electric pulse fishing dutch shocked by call to ban eu electric pulse fishing

 



GMT 04:22 2017 Tuesday ,26 December

Israel in touch with '10 countries' over embassy moves

GMT 19:43 2017 Friday ,06 October

Employee safety top priority at Khalifa Port

GMT 16:19 2017 Friday ,28 April

ISIS Suspect Arrested in Western Germany

GMT 12:57 2017 Monday ,11 December

50 Students Poisoned by Contaminated Well Water

GMT 16:31 2017 Thursday ,10 August

Palestinians will discuss decline of aids

GMT 21:15 2017 Saturday ,04 March

Obama never ordered surveillance on any US citizen

GMT 10:00 2017 Thursday ,09 March

Russia ‘can be good friends with GCC’

GMT 02:13 2017 Wednesday ,22 February

Russian helicopter crash kills 19 in Siberia

GMT 13:23 2017 Tuesday ,05 December

Lebanon PM Hariri rescinds resignation

GMT 00:39 2017 Tuesday ,05 December

Gunmen kill cleric in Aden, southern Yemen

GMT 11:43 2016 Thursday ,24 November

Will learn from Euro exit

GMT 06:56 2017 Tuesday ,17 October

US ‘not taking sides’ between Iraqi forces, Kurds

GMT 19:59 2017 Thursday ,16 February

Syrian opposition's chief negotiator arrives in Astana

GMT 15:41 2017 Thursday ,29 June

US sets new visa rules for 6 mainly Muslim nations

GMT 19:31 2017 Saturday ,11 February

Earthquake Hits Taiwan

GMT 15:30 2017 Monday ,27 November

Syrian government will not join peace talks on Monday

GMT 16:20 2017 Tuesday ,31 October

La Rochelle survive red card to down Toulouse

GMT 20:33 2018 Tuesday ,16 January

Bahraini official receives UAE Ambassador

GMT 22:40 2018 Monday ,08 January

Bahrain to host first Baby Games
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday