Illegal fishing and ghost netting that caused the death of cormorants and many fish

Two trawlers that fished illegally were seized by the marine unit of the Nature and Parks Authority

The inspectors of the marine unit of the Nature and Parks Authority seized this week, as part of an initiative inspection activity that began at night and following intelligence information, two trawlers that were hauling a fishing net and caught fish illegally, west of the shores of Acre. This is when fishing with trawlers is prohibited by law from north of Dor Nachshul to the border with Lebanon, and the ships were fishing in the heart of the prohibited area.

With the seizure of the ships, the operators of the ships were investigated and the marine unit of the Nature and Parks Authority, which is charged with the supervision of fishing in Israel on behalf of the fisheries division of the Ministry of Agriculture, is working to bring them to justice.

The Nature and Parks Authority states that fishing with trawlers, in which they drag a net on the seabed, damages the physical infrastructure of the habitat and captures the animals found in it and on it, including animal species that are not fish, fish that have no commercial value, and species protected by law.
Therefore, restrictions apply to this fishing method depending on the area, depth and type of bottom.

In the meantime, last night (Wednesday, 30/3/22) in the afternoon hours, a "ghost net" (a net abandoned by fishermen in the water) was located and removed from the water in the area of ​​the Tichiha in the north of the Sea of ​​Galilee, a team of inspectors from the Nature and Parks Authority together with the people of the Seas and Lakes Research Institute who removed the The long net from the water found many dead fish in the net as well as a number of cormorants that were also caught in the net and died. The cormorants are a protected natural value and the safety zone was declared a nature reserve over a year ago.