Skip to content
All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
  • Whale watching
Japanese whaling ship

Infamous whale slaughter ship docks for the final time

The whaling ship, Nisshin Maru has returned to the port of Shimonoseki for the final...
Sperm whale

Dominica announces new protections for sperm whales

Dominica has placed almost 800 square kilometers of sea off the west coast of the...
Porpoise dies after becoming entangled in fishing net

UK government rejects chance to protect whales and dolphins

The government has formally rejected almost all of the crucial recommendations made in a House...
Common dolphins © Christopher Swann

Ocean areas selected for conservation are now in danger says task force

The international task force celebrating 10 years of work mapping out Important Marine Mammal Areas...

Half a million net death petition handed to EU Commission

SAR petition handover

Over half a million citizens have signed a petition to demand action to stop thousands of dolphins dying in fishing nets (bycatch) in the Bay of Biscay.

The petition has been handed over to European Commission Deputy Director General of DG Environment, Patrick Child, the French Director of Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Eric Banel, and the Spanish Secretary of State for Environment, Hugo Morán.
The hand-over takes place amid the peak bycatch season for dolphins, from December to March each year.

On behalf of the citizens, environmental groups including WDC have urged the French and Spanish governments to urgently adopt adequate measures to prevent the unnecessary deaths of these dolphins every winter, as they are legally required to do under EU environmental law.

The three representatives also received shared jigsaw puzzles, symbolising the need for cooperation to save our dolphins. The presence of a French representative was particularly important,  given that the French fleet is responsible for most of the fatal dolphin catches and that France is currently hosting the One Ocean Summit, presenting itself as a leader in ocean protection and sustainable fishing.

Allowing thousands of legally protected dolphins to die in fishing nets is incompatible with EU law, scientific advice , political commitments to reverse biodiversity loss , and climate change mitigation.

Together with environmental NGOs,  Seas At Risk, Blue Planet Society, France Nature Environnement, Ecologistas en Acción, and ClientEarth, we are urging the French and Spanish governments to adopt effective measures, in line with the scientific advice. Action must therefore include temporary closure of the fisheries responsible for dolphin catch during the peak bycatch period.

Please make a donation

HELP WDC PREVENT DEATHS IN NETS.

Leave a Comment