By-catch of marine mammals show steep decline in the south-west – Fishupdate.com

By-catch of marine mammals show steep decline in the south-west Published:  22 July, 2005

STRANDINGS of harbour porpoises and dolphins in the South West have

shown a steep decline this year. The bycatch of dolphins in the UK

pair trawl fishery for bass in the Western Channel have also shown a

significant decrease in the most recent fishing season.

A Defra funded co-ordinated investigation carried out by The Natural

History Museum, the Institute of Zoology and The Scottish

Agricultural College for recording incidents of stranded cetaceans

around the British Isles has shown a significant decrease in the

number of stranded dolphins and harbour porpoises washed up on South

West beaches. Alongside this reduction in strandings, initial results from

Defra-funded research by the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) have

shown a significant decrease in the number of dolphins incidentally

captured in fishing operations in the UK pair trawl fishery for bass

in the South West. During the 2004/05 season, a preliminary analysis

by SMRU suggests that there was a total mortality of 142 common

dolphins in the UK pair trawl fishery for bass, compared with 429 in

2003/04 and 114 in 2002/03.www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish European Fish Trader, Fishing Monthly, Fish Farming Today, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.