We've just delivered dead dolphins bearing the scars of a final struggle in fishing nets simultaneously to French government offices in London and Paris.
Greenpeace is calling for a total ban on pair trawling, which kills thousands of dolphins in the English Channel every year. France has the largest bass pair trawling fleet in Europe but has failed to take action to stop these needless deaths.
In London, our volunteers delivered two frozen dolphins to the French Embassy in Knightsbridge - placing them on the steps to the building. In Paris, one dead dolphin was delivered to the office of the Fisheries Minister.
The dolphins were recently recovered by our ship, MY Esperanza, during a six week tour of the Channel. We found one lactating female and three still-warm dolphins with their bellies hacked wide open close to where French pair trawlers were operating. The animals' stomachs were probably slit by fishermen in an effort to make the evidence sink without trace.
In total we found nine dead dolphins during our ship tour. Greenpeace volunteers also took direct action to prevent both French and UK pair trawlers from fishing.
Pair trawlers fish in twos, dragging a huge net between them. The nets trap dolphins under water so they can't surface to breathe. Many dolphins tear themselves to pieces as they struggle to break free. It is estimated that the UK and French fleets combined could be killing over 2,000 dolphins each year.
Greenpeace oceans campaigner Oliver Knowles said: "Even though the French pair trawling fleet is the largest in Europe, the French government has taken no action to stop this fishery which kills dolphins in massive numbers every year
"The two dead dolphins now lying on the French Embassy's steps in London represent just a tiny part of a massive problem. Governments on both sides of the Channel should act immediately to protect these animals and ban pair trawling now."
This is our third dolphin delivery over the last three weeks.
