The complaint concerns illegal fishing in protected areas and refers to more than 400 cases of suspected fraud, according to a year-long investigation conducted by the organisations “Deep Sea Conservation Coalition” (DSCC) and “Marine Conservation Institute” and published in the scientific journal “Science Advances”.

According to the research by the Portuguese non-governmental organisation for the defense of the marine environment, Sciaena, Portuguese, Spanish and French vessels continue to fish in areas that are prohibited due to the extreme fragility of the ecosystems.

There are two European regulations on the protection of the ocean floor, a deep-sea fishing regulation, adopted in December 2016, which prohibits bottom trawling beyond 800 meters depth in the waters of the Northeast Atlantic, and the closure, in November 2022, of 87 zones located between 400 and 800 meters deep, to protect particularly vulnerable marine ecosystems rich in biodiversity.

In both cases, the investigation reveals massive fraud in areas where fishing is prohibited. In protected and sensitive areas, which are prohibited, 3,500 hours of bottom fishing were recorded when the number of hours should be zero. Of these, 500 hours were allocated to Portuguese boats. And 19,200 hours of bottom trawling fishing beyond 800 meters were also recorded between November 2021 and October 2023.

These are, says Bloom, “clear and deliberate violations of the law” that amount to “silent destruction” of the most fragile marine ecosystems, which are home to corals that are thousands of years old and species that are also very old and vulnerable, such as deep-sea sharks, sponges delicate and eared octopuses.