A report in the English Guardian newspaper indicates that initial trials of a ‘dolphin-safe’ trawl net off S.W.England have helped to save dolphins, though not in the way anticipated. Because the dolphins were wary of the new net with its special exit hatches, only 2 dolphins were killed in 82 trial hauls. A control group of 49 hauls, using conventional nets, resulted in 28 deaths.
The most shocking part of this report for me was the reminder that more often than not, when a Cornish trawlerman hauls a net, he catches a dolphin. The same is presumably true – and has been confirmed off the record by fishermen – for the French boats fishing the SW approaches and for the Irish and Spanish trawlers fishing the seas off the west coast of Ireland, including those from Fungie’s ‘home town’ of Dingle. Of course these dolphin deaths are not recorded or publicised, and nearly all go unnoticed. Naturally the fishermen don’t want observers on their boats, so normally the only reason we know about dolphin by-catch at all is because every now and again some of the dead dolphins later wash up on a beach with fins cut off after being removed from the nets.
We commend the Cornish fishermen for at least beginning to address this long-standing scandal by co-operating in these trials. We hope that Bord Iascaigh Mhara (Irish Sea Fisheries Board) and Irish skippers will follow suit. After some difficult years during the early 1990’s, during which the Dingle dolphin alone seemed to be the mainstay of the local economy, the fishing industry here is once again on the up, and has enjoyed eight years of rapid growth, with bigger and more valuable landings as new and larger vessels have been commissioned. How ironic that Fungie’s cousins out at sea are still paying the price of our disconnection from the marine environment and our ignorance of the processes by which food is brought to the shops.
The full text of the article by Paul Brown, environment correspondent for The Guardian, follows below:
© Wednesday May 21, 2003 Guardian Newspapers
Trawler net trial cuts dolphin deaths
Scientists have found a way of stopping dolphins from drowning in
fishing nets - but not in the way they planned.
An experiment with cameras watching dolphins found they would not
use escape hatches inserted in West-Country trawl nets. Instead,
they were so alarmed by the special nets that they stayed well away
and avoided being in danger at all.
Grids were placed halfway down trawl nets, with holes large enough
for fish to go through but stopping dolphins from going further. The
dolphins were expected to swim upwards and exit through the hatches.
None would use the hatches, but neither did they drown, though
dozens were killed by nearby nets without grids.
After £100,000 worth of trials, the scientist in charge, Simon
Northridge, at the sea mammal research unit of St Andrews
University, is unsure what saved the dolphins. Either the grids
frightened them so much they avoided the nets altogether, or once
they reached the grids they turned round and swam back the way they
came. It could even be that the cameras scared them off. Another
experiment is in progress to try to find out the answer.
Fortunately for the fishermen, the target species, bass, failed to
notice any difference and the trawlers caught just as many as those
without the grid nets.
Elliot Morley, the fisheries minister, was delighted by the scheme's
success but conceded it needed further work before it can be imposed
on the fishing fleet. He is hoping to persuade the French to do
experiments.
In the trials two dolphins were killed in 82 hauls. Elsewhere in the
fishery, without the grids, there were 28 casualties in 49 hauls.
The lack of a reason why the nets worked is a setback. The minister
hoped that by now dolphin-saving techniques would be ready for
adoption, but earlier mishaps have slowed progress.
Laila Sadler, an RSPCA officer who has campaigned for dolphins,
said: "There is no cause for rejoicing yet, because we don't know
how the separator grids are working. The death toll is significantly
reduced, which is good news.
"It may be that the strange appearance of the separator grid
[worked] in the same way that birds are deterred by scarecrows."
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