12 January 2012

Released jointly by RSPB and Cornwall Wildlife Trust

Conservationists are saddened and extremely concerned about the continued deaths of seabirds caught in nets in west Cornwall. On Saturday 7th January an estimated 200 birds were found in a net to the north of St Ives and others washed up on local beaches. Last week the Cornwall Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (CIFCA) used a local bylaw to close part of the fishery due to birds being caught in nets nearby.

Paul St Pierre, RSPB Conservation Officer in Cornwall says, "This is of great concern. At this time of the year birds such as guillemots and razorbills are frequently found near the coast feeding on sprats in the same areas used by local fishermen. Unfortunately conditions have conspired to bring them into greater proximity than normal with the result that large numbers of birds are being trapped in the nets and drowning."

Cornwall Wildlife Trust picked up a number of dead birds from Porthmeor Beach over the weekend. These were examined by veterinary pathologist Vic Simpson, at the Wildlife Veterinary Investigation Centre in Chacewater, and their deaths were found to entirely consistent with drowning whilst feeding on sprats.

Ruth Williams, Marine Conservation Manager at Cornwall Wildlife Trust says, "The birds that have been examined were healthy, had very recently been feeding, but had definitely died as a result of drowning in these nets."

   

"This is a sad event, but we praise the CIFCA officers for their rapid intervention and enforcement of the byelaw.  Unfortunately, the area covered by this byelaw is very small and the issue has continued outside the recently closed area of the bay, so we would hope that as part of their investigation and future discussions, the CIFCA may see fit to extend the area covered by this byelaw to give the protection needed to these seabirds."

CIFCA were fast to respond to last week's incident by using a bylaw to close the area allowed. They also reacted rapidly along with local fishermen to remove nets in this latest event.  Conservationists are now urging local fishermen to work with IFCA on a solution to the problem outside of the area covered by this bylaw.

Paul St Pierre says, "We have been talking with CIFCA and think there are a number of potential solutions to this immediate problem that should be explored such as restricting the setting of nets to the hours of darkness in the short term. Seabirds only feed by day so this could reduce much of this bycatch."

"We feel confident that we can rely on fishermen to act responsibly for the benefit of the birds with the encouragement of CIFCA. However, all parties do need to act quickly."

The issue of bird bycatch around St Ives highlights a wider issue at a European level. Although much good work has been done in the southern oceans to prevent this with respect to albatross, there has to-date been no clear and coherent plan to tackle bycatch of seabirds in European waters. This is of concern for a large number of seabirds, including the globally endangered Balearic shearwater that regularly feeds off north Cornwall at this time of year.

Paul St Pierre says, "The introduction of an action plan to tackle seabird bycatch in Europe is sadly much delayed, but we feel these awful incidents over the past week are a further reminder of the need for urgent action."

Contacts:

• Tony Whitehead, RSPB South West Press Officer, 01392 453754, 07872 414365, tony.whitehead@rspb.org.uk
• Ruth Williams, Marine Conservation Manager for Cornwall Wildlife Trust, 07825 070613, ruth.williams@cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk