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Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque Following a three...

Endangered Southern Resident orca loses newborn calf

In heartbreaking news from the Pacific Northwest, the Center for Whale Research has reported that...
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U.S. Defense Bill weakens protections for whales

24 July 2018, Plymouth, MA: The FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act conference report was released...

Teaming up with Fishtek to reduce dolphin deaths in fishing gear

Entanglement in fishing gear (bycatch) is the biggest global threat to dolphins, porpoises and whales. Not only is it the cause of hundreds of thousands of deaths every year, it is an awful way to die. The frustrating thing is, with a joined-up, concerted effort, we could so easily save lives.

Our colleagues at Fishtek work hard to provide practical and innovative solutions, such as pingers (devices that emit sounds to warn creatures away) to prevent dolphins and porpoises, as well as seabirds, turtles and sharks, meeting this fate.

Recently, Fishtek and WDC have joined forces with other international experts as members of a bycatch mitigation panel to find creative and effective ways to stop dolphins, porpoises and whales dying in fishing gear all around the world.

Fishtek have also teamed up with Triodos Bank to raise funds to increase uptake of their existing, effective devices and also to them to develop new, much-needed products to reduce this unnecessary bycatch, specifically bycatch solutions such as SharkGuard.

If these devices can be introduced to the fishing fleets where bycatch exists, with other measures where required, lives can be saved immediately, with minimal impact to fishing activities.

Fishtek is making a practical difference, all around the world, to the numbers of dolphins, porpoises, whales, seabirds, turtles and sharks dying in fishing gear.

Find out more about this partnership and how Fishtek are hoping to fund it.

About George Berry

George is a member of WDC's Communications team and website coordinator.