A supertrawler implicated in the discarding of more 100,000 dead fish off the coast of France has been tracked to waters off Co Mayo, as Independent.ie reports.
Maritime campaigners filmed the release of blue whiting from the FV Margiris in the Bay of Biscay earlier this month — an incident the trawler’s owner said was “involuntary”, blaming a ruptured net.
But environmental activists Sea Shepherd claim the incident is an example of discarding bycatch, a practice explicitly banned in the European Union.
The FV Margiris, which was previously barred from fishing in Australia, has sparked controversy in Irish waters before.
In December 2016 the world’s second-largest factory-freezer vessel was boarded off the North West coast by Naval Service personnel following concerns among the trawler fleet fishing out of Killybegs.
Independent.ie has more on the current story HERE.