Sussex dolphin charity launch new campaign

The group has joined forces with the World Cetacean Alliance to create the ‘Dolphins Aren’t Discard’ campaign.

The campaign spokesperson said, “The campaign is focused on our belief that hundreds of dolphins are killed every year as the result of giant factory ships (95 metres+) Pelagic trawling (mid-water not bottom trawling) waters around the UK.”

Sussex Dolphin Project (SDP) recorded 17 dead cetaceans – the aquatic mammal family consisting of whales/dolphins/porpoise – on local beaches in 2020, during the period that supertrawlers were fishing in the channel off the Sussex coast. This is compared to just two for the rest of the year when there was no supertrawler activity.

The spokesperson said, “Since only 10 per cent of bodies wash up on shore, we estimate the true figure to be closer to 170 bycatch-related deaths in Sussex alone.”

According to SDP, supertrawlers from around the world are legally allowed to fish in the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone but since they don’t fish within territorial waters – within 12 miles of shore – they aren’t held to the same level of legislation as the UK’s own local, sustainable fishing community.

The campaign wants greater transparency and stronger legislation to uncover the true scale of the issue.

Thea Taylor, SDP lead, said, “The time periods when supertrawlers are fishing in the channel see a marked increase in the number of deceased cetaceans washing up on Sussex beaches, many of them with clear signs of being victims of bycatch.

“We’re working with the World Cetacean Alliance to call for greater transparency and stronger legislation of supertrawler activity in the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). We hope this will allow us to identify the true scale of the issue and fully address this unsustainable fishing method.

“Supertrawlers are huge factory ships measuring up to 144 metres long, with nets the size of 450 tennis courts capable of catching thousands of tonnes of fish per trip, yet they target very specific pelagic (midwater) fish species.

“It’s unclear how such massive nets can fish sustainably without detrimental impact on other marine species, the wider marine ecosystem and of course our local sustainable fishing community.”