STOP THE BYCATCH

Bycatch is the incidental capture of non-target species in any fishery.
Bycatches now pose a huge threat to dolphins.

International Dolphin Watch and other conservation organisations are calling on the EU commission to modify the legislative framework to ensure that environmental concerns are integrated into fisheries policy.

The annual offshore Sea Bass Fishery takes place in the waters off the South West Coast of Britain. As well as catching fish, these trawlers are believed to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dolphins. Hundreds of bodies were washed up on the coastlines of France, the Channel Islands and South West England in the early part of 2000. Many had signs of entanglement in fishing nets. Evidence from these mortalities and the pattern of deaths that has occurred at least over the last decade, points the finger of blame very clearly at the pelagic trawlers that operate seasonally in these waters. The trawlers fish in pairs using nets half a mile long, and any dolphins accidentally caught up in the nets die. Ministry of Agriculture scientists saw 12 dolphins killed in 9 days when they watched trawlers fishing for sea bass.

Article 6 of the Amsterdam Treaty permits the EU Commission to modify legislative framework, therefore we are campaigning to have the Common Fisheries Policy amended to incorporate measures to mitigate cetacean bycatch, with explicit legal provision in EU law.

Immediate steps must be taken to address known bycatch problems and to monitor fisheries that may be catching dolphins.

You can help by sending a letter of protest to
Franz Fischler, European Commissioner for Agriculture & Fisheries
200 Rue de la Loi, B-1049
Brussels, Belgium