- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
NGO files complaint over dead fish deluge off French coast
Environmental organisation Sea Shepherd on Tuesday filed a legal complaint against the owners of a large fishing vessel after tens of thousands of dead fish were spotted off France's Atlantic coast.
The NGO last week published footage of what it said were more than 100,000 dead fish floating in the sea some 300 kilometres (186 miles) off the southwestern port city of La Rochelle in the Bay of Biscay.
The fish, of the cod species blue whiting, had been caught by the Margiris, one of the world's biggest fishing trawlers at 143 metres (470 feet) long.
On Thursday, the Margiris logged a "fishing incident" with the freezer-trawler association PFA, saying its net had ruptured, causing the involuntary release of the fish into the sea.
The PFA said the breakage, "a rare occurrence" had been due to "the unexpectedly large size of the fish caught".
The incident had also been reported to the vessel's flag state, Lithuania, it said.
But Sea Shepherd said it suspected the blue whiting, an abundant species in the northeast Atlantic, might have been discarded deliberately.
"Some vessels, when they catch a great number of fish of low commercial value like blue whiting, discard them to make room for higher-value fish," said Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France.
This practice, she told AFP, "is completely illegal".
Sea Shepherd's case was based on the Margiris's failure to bring the fish it caught to shore in accordance with fishing rules, she said. The organisation had backed up its claim "with various elements of what we found at the site", she added.
France's maritime minister, Annick Girardin, said on Friday there would be an inquiry into the incident, and that the dead fish would be subtracted from the Margiris's fishing quota.
"This was a non-authorised discarding of fish," a spokesperson at her ministry said.
The EU's commissioner for oceans and fisheries Virginijus Sinkevicius -- himself a Lithuanian national -- said the European Commission would also look into the matter.
burs/jh/jj
M.Thompson--AMWN