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Pilot whale

How we need to support Faroese communities to end the whale and dolphin hunts

Hayley Flanagan Hayley is WDC's engagement officer, specializing in creating brilliant content for our website...
Hope the inflatable whale

Meet a whale called Hope

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
Harbour porpoise. Image: Charlie Phillips/WDC

Speaking up for the little guys – WDC in action

Whales and dolphins face so many dangers. These intelligent beings are crucial for the wellbeing...
Humpback whale fluke in Alaska.

An unforgettable first encounter – observing the whales we work to protect

I have kept a dark secret since joining WDC back in June 2021. Despite my...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings
Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

Featured policy news item

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc magna elit, gravida at lectus vitae,...
sea_world_orlando_rob_lott

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...
srkw_shoup_2003_text

U.S. Defense Bill weakens protections for whales

24 July 2018, Plymouth, MA: The FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act conference report was released...
All articles
  • All articles
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Fundraising
  • Green Whale
  • Kids blogs
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
Pilot whale

How we need to support Faroese communities to end the whale and dolphin hunts

Hayley Flanagan Hayley is WDC's engagement officer, specializing in creating brilliant content for our website...
Hope the inflatable whale

Meet a whale called Hope

Kidzone - quick links Fun Facts Curious kids Blogs Fantastic fundraisers Gallery Splish and Splash...
Harbour porpoise. Image: Charlie Phillips/WDC

Speaking up for the little guys – WDC in action

Whales and dolphins face so many dangers. These intelligent beings are crucial for the wellbeing...
Humpback whale fluke in Alaska.

An unforgettable first encounter – observing the whales we work to protect

I have kept a dark secret since joining WDC back in June 2021. Despite my...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings
Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

Featured policy news item

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc magna elit, gravida at lectus vitae,...
sea_world_orlando_rob_lott

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...
srkw_shoup_2003_text

U.S. Defense Bill weakens protections for whales

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

Scientists call on EU and Member States to take action to prevent dolphin deaths

After more than 1,000 common dolphins washed up dead on the French coast over the winter, scientists from France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the UK have come together to call for action to reduce the numbers of dolphins dying in fishing gear (bycatch). We call on the European Commission to ensure urgent action to tackle unacceptable common dolphin bycatch is not delayed.

Common dolphin

These experts are working under the umbrella of a group called ASCOBANS (Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas) which aims to protect dolphins, porpoises and small whales. The scientists are calling on member governments to adopt a Common Dolphin Action Plan.

The expert group reinforce the need for governments to work together as a priority to get accurate figures on current rates of dolphin deaths in nets, so that we can better understand the scale of the problem, and then put effective measures in place to reduce bycatch.

The Action Plan lays out a series of practical research, mitigation and monitoring actions aimed at improving the conservation status of the common dolphin.

The scientists quite rightly call out those countries, including the UK, which have allowed common dolphins to be continually caught in fishing gear in the North East Atlantic at high levels and for decades. Attention and cause for concern was brought to this issue back in the early 1990s by French and UK scientists and by us. More recently, regional experts have provided formal advice to the European Commission that the bycatch in fishing gear is likely having a population level effect on common dolphins. ASCOBANS has raised concerns about the high level of bycatch affecting this population of dolphins, and these concerns have been reiterated by the International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee in 2019.

Just last month, WDC submitted a formal complaint, with the support of many European NGOs, to the European Commission, as well as an Emergency Measures briefing providing the evidence of ongoing common dolphin bycatch in the Bay of Biscay and calling for immediate action.

Common dolphins are caught in fishing nets throughout the Celtic Sea, English Channel and Bay of Biscay, all year round, but with a peak in winter months, and in a range of fishing gears such as pelagic trawl fisheries - pair trawls (where two fishing boats pull a big net between them) and other bottom trawlers - seiners and static gillnets.

Current bycatch measures at the EU level are woefully inadequate. Not enough data is collected by the range of countries fishing to know the true extent of the deaths, and although enough is known to understand that the situation is urgent, countries still do not do even what they are legally required to do. Common dolphin bycatch cannot be allowed to go on unattended.

Only a small percentage of the dolphins who meet a truly horrible death  in fishing gear will wash ashore. So with the stranding of 1,000 common dolphins on the French coast this last winter, how many dolphins died at sea? Given the ‘unfavourable’ status of common dolphins in Europe, and the uncertainty about the number of common dolphin populations and the true extent of bycatch in this region, this issue requires decisive action by the European Commission and by Member States that fish within the habitat of Northeast Atlantic common dolphins.

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Please make a donation to enable us to work to stop dolphins dying in fishing gear

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