Illegal fishing in the Alpes-Maritimes region : One Voice defends injured birds in court
In Cagnes-sur-Mer, Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Villeneuve-Loubet in the Alpes-Maritimes region, birds are falling victim to fishermen. Every day, in environments where it is forbidden to attack fish, gulls, swans, flamingos and black-headed gulls are injured by abandoned nets and hooks, sometimes causing the death of these protected animals. On their behalf, we are filing a complaint against a person unknown with the Grasse legal tribunal.
On the Côte d’Azur coastline, biodiversity is theoretically kept safe in many areas, starting with the large birds who populate these lands. Some, such as gulls, swans, flamingos and black-headed gulls, are particularly vulnerable and protected by European and national legislation. Clearly visible signs indicate the rules to be respected. But fishermen don’t care. Whether in the protected areas of Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Cagnes-sur-Mer, or on the coastline of Villeneuve-Loubet, where their deadly pastime is forbidden, they never hesitate to take out their rods. Not content with being outside the law and taking fish’s lives, they also litter nature with waste. Nets, hooks… everything is left behind. And the birds pay a high price.
“Protected” areas turned into places of death
Every day, the gulls, swans, flamingos and black-headed gulls of the Alpes-Maritimes region struggle to feed themselves, due to the pressure exerted on their environment by fishermen. Every day, they are seen caught in nets that sever their legs, with lures stuck in their beaks or with hooks piercing their flesh, when they don’t swallow them… And all this with total indifference on the part of the fishermen, who don’t bother to rescue them, leaving them to struggle desperately in the meshes they have left adrift. Rescues are carried out without them. Veterinarians take care of animals in distress, sometimes in agony. The severity of their injuries means they cannot always be kept alive. Some succumb in excruciating pain, eaten away by infection or gangrene, or strangled by thread, like this young swan who didn’t have time to grow.
For all the fish and birds illegally killed by lovers of this cruel pastime, we are filing a complaint with the legal tribunal in Grasse and calling for the rules that are supposed to allow animals to live in peace to be respected.
