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Thousands of Britain’s most charismatic and protected marine wildlife, including whales, porpoises, dolphins, seals and seabirds are being killed as “collateral damage” by fishing vessels every year, according to the first-ever analysis of bycatch data.
The analysis, by the Wildlife and Countryside Link, a coalition of voluntary conservation groups, reveals the devastating toll bycatch, the accidental capture and killing of non-target species by fishing vessels, is having on marine species.
The “shocking” scale of annual deaths in the report, Hidden in the haul: The true scale of bycatch is likely to be “the tip of the iceberg”, it said, as only a fraction of the UK fishing fleet monitor bycatch. Only 0.05% of dredging vessels monitor this. They, like the bottom trawlers exposed in the recent David Attenborough film Oceans, drag heavy gear across the sea floor and are known for doing damage to marine life on the sea bed. Non-UK vessels operating in UK waters were not included in the data.
The deaths estimated in the report, which were extrapolated from datasets on bycatch and discard numbers, were more than 1,000 harbour porpoises and common dolphins killed annually, 10,000 seabirds and 500 seals. Six humpback whales and 30 minke whales were also found dead in Scottish creel ropes. Over 1,000 endangered Atlantic salmon and 120 tonnes of protected sharks, skates and rays are also caught and killed as bycatch by commercial fishing vessel every year.
Richard Benwell, the chief executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said most of the deaths were avoidable by using a range of mitigation measures. He called on the government in England to deliver promised action on bycatch of protected species.
“From razorbills and dolphins to endangered salmon and sharks, the scale of destruction exposed in this report is shocking, with animals dying in awful and unnecessary ways.”
In English waters, the use of gillnets, a type of static net that hangs like a curtain in the water, are the highest risk for seabird bycatch. Birds including puffins, gannets and razorbills get caught and drown when they dive for food. Gillnets cause 400,000 seabird deaths globally, according to research by BirdLife International.
Benwell said: “The government mustn’t let these terrible losses continue. To protect marine wildlife, Ministers must finally deliver strong bycatch action plans, backed by strict mandatory monitoring and enforcement, before more wildlife is pushed closer to extinction.”
“We need to support fishers to move to more modern methods and not cause collateral damage.”
Cetaceans dying as bycatch is a key reason the UK is failing to meet its legal obligations to achieve good environmental status in some British seas, the report found.
Ruth Williams, head of marine conservation at the Wildlife Trusts, said: “For many in the fishing industry, bycatch is a distressing and unwanted outcome – these species are critical to the health of our seas, and their deaths will have serious consequences on marine ecosystems.”
Successive governments have failed to address this “silent and largely unseen” crisis, Williams said.
The coalition is also calling on the government to require remote electronic monitoring on all fishing vessels operating in English waters, including small vessels under 10 metres that it said are responsible for a large proportion of bycatch.
While the study covered deaths in UK waters, the recommendations are largely targeted at the UK government in England, drawing on the expertise of WCL’s English members, the report said.
It highlighted solutions already employed by UK fishers. Small-scale fishers in Filey Bay, Yorkshire, near the UK’s largest mainland colony of seabirds, worked with conservationists to reduce annual bycatch from 700 seabirds to four or five by trying new methods, including heavier nets. In Scotland, where research found most whale entanglements were caused by floating ropes between creels, trials of weighted creel ropes have shown success in reducing the risk of whales becoming entangled.
A Defra spokesperson said:“This government is committed to restoring our oceans to good health and we are taking action to reduce the bycatch of marine species.”
“Our flagship programme, Clean Catch, uses electronic monitoring to collect bycatch data and evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation measures, and our new Seabird Bycatch Action Plan will look to reduce seabird deaths in and around English waters.”
