On December 9th, the European Parliament votes on the legality of fishing in deep waters (‟deep-sea” or ‟bottom trawling”). The fragile and rich biodiversity of the sea bottom has taken tens of thousands of years to form. Today, we are brutally destroying it. Just imagine if the Notre Dame Cathedral was leveled by bulldozers! In fact, 10 deep-sea bottom trawlers can destroy an area the size of Paris in less than 2 days.
What is the purpose of this destruction? To produce cheap fish fillets for the supermarkets located in the richest countries.
Scientists describe deep-sea trawling as the most destructive action in history. Huge weighted nets scrape the seabed up to 1800 meters of depth and devastate ecosystems that are thousands of years old, while catching vulnerable species, some of which are endangered, in the process.
The Bloom Association, led by Claire Nouvian has done a remarkable job to disseminate information and has campaigned tirelessly to get deep-sea trawling banned by the European Parliament. That will take place on December 9th, 2013.
Deep-sea fishing lobbyists and their political allies are working hard to derail the vote, thus revealing an appalling display of institutionalized selfishness.
To date over 600,000 people have signed the Bloom Petition to the French President and other officials, and now the petition is being circulated on Avaaz. You can add your own
on Avaaz’s website.
See also the
support we have contributed
to the action of the Bloom Association.