BLOOM received a press release from C-LIFE, a small-scale fisher association which is member of our coalition. We decided to published it on our website:

Today, the pulse fishermen are operating in The Hague because they are in danger of losing their illegally obtained permits.

The pulse fishermen enter data that have been compiled by Wageningen University and Research commissioned by the Fishery Administrative Platform that is committed to the promotion of pulse fishing.

Doomsday scenarios are predicted on behalf of the pulse lobby in a last attempt to stop the pulse ban and with clear undertones of fishing for compensation by the government now that threatens to fail.

Meanwhile, the small fishing fleet has been decimated, no rooster crows at that. The distress calls of the small-scale fishing fleet have been ignored for years.

“The number of vessels that fish specifically with standing water has fallen sharply from another 48 ships in 2014 to 12 vessels in 2017”.

The same report from WUR shows that catches in small-scale fishing have declined dramatically since the import and intensification of pulse fishing.

Mammon reigns in the fishing industry, with the epicenter Urk from where the pulse lobby extends its mighty tentacles to European level through the Vissersbond, VisNed and the Administrative Platsform Fisheries which seem to have been dictating the National policy for years, at the expense of the small-scale fishing that is more environmentally friendly than pulse fishing.

A request for investigation into the fraud with subsidies and licenses in pulse fishing by the European fraud agency OLAF on behalf of 22 European interest groups has recently been rejected by, which later turned out to be the person responsible for the fisheries policy at the time:

Frederic Le Manach (BLOOM): “We have discovered that the person in charge of investigations on European structural funds at OLAF, Ernesto Bianchi, was Head of Unit at the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) – that is, the European Commission’s fisheries department – between 2011 and 2015. That is precisely what the European Commission organized the major expansion of electric fishing in Europe! OLAF has therefore asked one of the main culprits to investigate on its own misdeeds!“

The small-scale fishery has asked for a small pulse-free zone off the Dutch coast, agreements with the Vissersbond were broken on the first day out of anger about a protest by small-scale fishing at the European level against the pulse.

International pressure is on the rise, with Brexit the English fishermen finally have the chance to keep their fishing waters free from Dutch fishermen, the French fleet intensifies their resistance because there is no more fish to catch when the Dutch fleet has passed. The catches within the pulse fleet are now also declining, the allocated fish quota for sole was not achieved by far last year. A sign that the sea has been emptied.

The pulse fleet focuses on compensation, instead of looking at truly sustainable solutions. Apres nous le deluge, now first the try to get as much money as possible from the government in The Hague.

The interests are great, and the individual pulse fishermen each have made huge profits. The small-scale fishing industry is very sorry to see how it is now being campaigned with the undertone to claim compensation for fishermen who have been filling their pockets for years at the expense of the small-scale fishing fleet and underwater life. The small-scale fishery hopes that this transparent strategy will not be rewarded and that the government will push aside the smokescreen of pulse fishing and use newly gained insights on a truly sustainable fisheries policy.