Activists attempt to discover
if a pair trawler has dead dolphins in its
nets. The trawler is trying to hide the content
of the nets from view.
03/03/2005 — Last season UK government observers
witnessed two vessels, the Ocean Star and
Ocean Crest, killing more than 150 dolphins
while trawling for sea bass. But the government
didn't lift a finger to stop it. So we took
our ship, Esperanza, into the English Channel
to do something about it. Now we have found
them.
The Ocean Star and Ocean Crest are part of
a "pair trawling" fleet from the
UK and France, which is estimated to kill
thousands of dolphins in the English Channel
every year. Pair trawlers drag a huge net
between them to catch fish like sea bass,
but also kill dolphins.
Our inflatables found the pair trawlers about
30 miles south of Plymouth. As soon as we
approached, the trawlers stopped fishing and
hauled in their nets. Our campaigner Willie
was onboard one of the inflatables: "As
soon as we got between the trawlers they swiftly
started moving together - encircling us between
them and their nets! Of course our inflatables
are much more manoeuvrable, and we got away
no problem. The boats then started to haul
their nets - and as soon as one vessel was
'free' from the net it made a point of continually
heading straight for our inflatables at speed.
"All the time the one boat was hauling;
the other seemed to be trying to stop us getting
close to see the net hauled. Anyone would
think they had something to hide - like all
the dolphins they've killed in this fishery
over the past few years?
"Immediately the boats steamed off, and
it doesn't look like they'll start fishing
again soon. But we'll keep with them - safe
in the knowledge that every hour they're not
fishing, they're not killing dolphins."
More from the weblog.
Previously, the Ocean Star and Ocean Crest
stopped fishing when we placed swimmers in
front of the boats and attached large inflatable
buoys to their net. We are taking action because
both the UK government and the European Union
(EU) have failed to tackle this problem.
Common Dolphin. This dolphin could end up
dead in a pair trawl net.
"This needless destruction of the dolphin
population must stop, and because the governments
won't stop it, it's up to us. Otherwise, there's
a very real chance that dolphins will disappear
altogether from the Channel," said Sarah
Duthie from onboard the Esperanza.
Government observers on UK sea bass trawlers
last year recorded 169 dolphins killed in
the huge nets. Government figures estimate
that the UK fleet alone was responsible for
the deaths of 439 dolphins last year. The
UK and French fleets combined could be killing
over 2000 dolphins a year.
We want the UK government to investigate which
other fishing methods are also killing dolphins
and porpoises and take action. Worldwide,
the unintentional capture in fishing nets
of dolphins, porpoises and other marine species
is a major problem. It is estimated to kill
some 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises
a year. Overall it has been estimated that
23 percent of the global fisheries catch is
thrown back dead.
