Thousands of animals are dying in 'awful and unnecessary ways' every year due to commercial fishing in UK waters, campaigners have warned. More than 10,000 seabirds, 1,000 whales and dolphins, and hundreds of seals are being 'accidentally' killed, a report exposing the country's 'bycatch' crisis found. Bycatch is the accidental capture and killing of non-target animals during commercial fishing.
Campaigners Sound Alarm on Bycatch Crisis
Campaigners Wildlife and Countryside Link said it is causing 'population decline, suffering and extinction risk for marine animals'. Richard Benwell, the group's chief executive, said: 'Thousands of animals die every year in UK waters because of avoidable fishing deaths. 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.'
Government Urged to Act
Mr Benwell added: '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.' More than 1,000 endangered Atlantic salmon, over 120 tonnes of protected sharks, skates and rays, and around 500 seals are being caught by fishing vessels in Britain's waters each year.
Underreporting Masks True Scale
The report warned that the true scale is likely to be far worse, because of chronic underreporting and a lack of monitoring across much of the UK fishing fleet. Ruth Williams, head of marine conservation at The Wildlife Trusts, said: 'The scale of dolphins, sharks, seals and seabirds accidentally caught in fishing gear is shocking. 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.'
Solutions Exist but Implementation Lags
'Despite there being solutions available, successive Governments have failed to address this silent and largely unseen crisis. Many of our much-loved marine species are already facing a cocktail of threats at sea, and so the first step in reversing their decline must be urgent Government action to implement, innovate and monitor solutions that protect marine life from these preventable deaths,' Ms Williams added. Trials of weighted ropes in creel fisheries have shown success in reducing the risk of whales becoming entangled in fishing gear. Meanwhile, a collaboration between fishers and conservationists has reduced seabird deaths from around 700 a year to five or fewer, by trialling new methods such as heavier nets.
Government Response
A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 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.'
