Action to save Southwest dolphins

Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Marine Conservation Officer, Joana Doyle and cetacean expert, Nick Tregenza yesterday met with Jonathan Shaw, Minister for Marine, Landscape and Rural Affairs to discuss the ongoing problem of dolphin bycatch in fisheries around the Southwest.

The meeting was called by Andrew George MP of West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly constituency of St Ives, following a debate he secured with the Minister last week where he brought up Cornwall Wildlife Trust's mounting concerns for the inshore bottlenose dolphin group which travels up and down the coast of Cornwall and Devon.

Research carried out by the Trust over the last 17 years indicates that, despite increased reporting of marine life, reports of bottlenose dolphins have declined and, more alarmingly, the average group size has decreased from an average of 17 in 1991 to 6 in 2007. Joana Doyle, Marine Conservation Officer explains this decline: "We know that the group is still reproducing as each year we see new juveniles in the group, so something else is causing this reduction. We have had concerns for a long time now that gill and tangle nets used in inshore areas pose a substantial risk to this group of bottlenose dolphins, however until last October we did not have the evidence to confirm this." In October a dead bottlenose dolphin was discovered in St. Ives. Its tail had been amputated, which is a clear indicator of bycatch. A post mortem examination later confirmed that the animal had died as a result of bycatch in fishing gear. Joana continues: "Now that we have this evidence we want work with the fisheries in question to trial mitigation measures."

Cornwall Wildlife Trust held meetings with Cornwall Sea Fisheries officers in order to discuss potential mitigation methods to prevent bottlenose dolphins from getting caught in nets. Some inshore fishermen are concerned by their accidental capture of porpoises and sometimes of dolphins, and the Trust hopes to find means of working with them to test how 'pingers', to keep the animals away from the nets, might work in practice on inshore nets. Although pingers have been shown to deter porpoises from nets, the practicalities of using them on UK inshore vessels has not yet been tested. In addition, it is not yet fully understood how common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins react to 'pingers' and it is important that this is investigated as part of this project.

Joana says: "Together with the Cornwall Sea Fisheries Officers we explained the issue and our proposal to conduct a ‘pinger' trial to Jonathan Shaw. We are in a unique position where a conservation organisation and the fisheries authorities are on board to work together to find a solution to this problem and the only thing hampering progress is a lack of funding. We hope DEFRA will consider putting some money towards this important work."

In the meantime, the Cornwall Wildlife Trust will continue its vital research recording dead cetaceans around the coast through its dedicated Network of Marine Strandings volunteers. It is this data that was referred to in the debate in the House of Commons in which Andrew George MP applauded the work of the group.