The dolphin bycatch issue has had a lot of publicity recently due to the huge numbers of dead dolphins and porpoises that have been washed up on our beaches over the winter months. In January alone 79 dolphins and porpoises were washed up on the shores of Cornwall; at the time of writing, this number has increased to 135. Most have shown the kind of damage that we have come to associate with fisheries bycatch. This includes broken or dislocated beaks and damaged fins, and has been attributed to entrapment in large trawl nets, particularly those trawled between two boats moving at speed and kept in the water for hours at a time in the pursuit of bass. Cetaceans are mammals, and like us breathe air. Once they become trapped in the huge pair trawl nets they cannot escape or get to the surface to breathe, so they suffocate and suffer an extremely distressing death.

The bass pair trawl fishery is a European one and nothing to do with our local inshore fishermen. The fleet works in the English Channel and is mainly French, with some Dutch, Spanish and Scottish boats. As such, these trawlers are governed through the Common Fisheries Policy and can only be regulated and stopped at a European level.

The current bass fishery not only kills huge numbers of dolphins, but is in itself wholly unsustainable and very likely to lead to a collapse in bass stocks. The implications for the South West economy through tourism, local fishermen, sea angling and restaurants are huge and at present are being neglected. Consumer choice may help. Ask your supermarket or restaurant owner where their bass comes from

and request the much more sustainable line caught bass instead of the mass caught and poorer quality trawled bass.

How you can help

In an effort to get the European Government to listen and take action. The Wildlife Trusts have launched a campaign and petition to ban the pair trawling fishery until appropriate measures are put in place to prevent cetacean bycatch. As a minimum requirement we want to see mandatory independent observers on all pelagic boats so we can get the scientific evidence Europe says it needs.

You can help protect our wild dolphin populations by signing and sending the petition below, or by writing to your local MP, MEP or direct to Franz Fischler, the EU Fisheries Minister to call for immediate action (draft letters and addresses available from CWT). For more information on the campaign, please call Cornwall Wildlife Trust on (01872) 273939.

Also, if you do find a dead dolphin on the beach, please call us immediately on the same number so we can record it and help gather the evidence we need to see action taken now.

Ruth Williams Marine Conservation Officer

Sign the petition below and send to The Wildlife Trusts to help stop dolphin deaths.

The Wildlife Trusts, The Kiln, Mather Road, Newark, Notts NG24 1WT
Tel: 0870 0367711 Fax: 01636 670001 Email: info@wildlife-trusts.cix.co.uk

Dear Mr Fischler

1 (your name here) .................. want the European Commission to ACT NOW and put a stop to dolphin deaths due to bycatch in pelagic trawlef nets.
My address: .......................................................................
Postcode: ....................

[    ] (Please tick) 1 would like to receive more information about The Wildlife Trusts
[    ] (Please tick) I would like to make a donation to support this campaign (please make cheques payable to The Wildlife Trusts)

For more information visit: www.wildlife-trusts -org
Charity No:207238