Dolphin deaths are blamed on fishing methods

NICHOLAS SCHOON

Environment Correspondent

Eleven dolphins have been washed up dead along the southern Cornish coastline over the past few days. Conservationists believe an influx of Scottish fishermen is to blame.

Dolphins and porpoises can become trapped in fishing nets and drown. Surveys in British waters and overseas have shown this causes thousands of deaths each year, most of which go unrecorded because the corpses are never washed ashore.

Before Christmas, about 40 Scottish mackerel fishing boats arrived in Cornish waters. Usually a few arrive at that time of year, but the number was much higher on this occasion.

The Scots expected large shoals to migrate out of Norwegian waters - where they are not allowed to fish - into Scottish seas. But this year the mackerel were late arriving, so the boats sailed south in search of shoals off the West Country.

Nick Tregenza, chairman of the Cornish Wildlife Trust, said European and American research had shown that dolphins and pilot whales could die in the mid-water trawl nets used to catch pelagic fish which swim well above the sea-bed like mackerel, hake and bass.

"Some of these marine mammals go for easy pickings around the mouths of the nets, catching the fish there," he said. "But they run a high risk when the nets are drawn in."

Dr Tregenza, a part-time GP who researches marine mammals, added: "We're not saying the fishing should stop; what's needed is techniques for scaring the dolphins away."

The South-west has not seen such high dolphin mortality since the winter of 1991-92, when 110 corpses were washed up in the region.

Jim Slater, chairman of the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen's Association, said there was no reason to single out the Scottish fishermen. French and Irish boats were also using mid-water trawls in the area, as well as local boats from Devon and Cornwall. "I don't dispute that fishing does kill some dolphins and porpoises," he said. "But I don't think having 11 washed up is cause for a major rethink."