Bycatch News Archive 2007

Increased protection for New Zealand’s dolphins
(Added:- 12 June 2007)
Support is rapidly building for the critically endangered Maui’s dolphin. In the last month Manukau City Council and Auckland City Council have both joined the fight for action which means that seven of the eight regional councils are offering weighty support at a critical stage in the campaign to save the Maui’s dolphin.
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Votes to ban bottom trawling
(Added:- 12 June 2007)
The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which advises the US government on fisheries in waters off Alaska, voted recently to put 180,000 square miles of the northern Bering Sea off-limits to bottom trawling. Options adopted now go through the regulatory process with the National Marine Fisheries Service. The northern Bering Sea shelf is critical habitat for scores of animals, including gray and endangered bowhead whales. Humpback whales also make their annual migrations through the area . However bottom trawlers will be allowed to continue to work on about 150,000 square miles where they fish now.

Continued funding for UK strandings programme
(Added:- 17 May 2007)
In 2006 the Marine Connection were horrified to discover the UK Government was planning to reduce funding for post-mortem examinations of cetaceans that wash up dead around the UK. Many of the individuals washed ashore in the winter months never make it to post-mortem, despite their fresh condition, due to the veterinary laboratories working at maximum capacity already - the cause of death in these individuals is never known.
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Joint UK cetacean report launched
(Added:- 14 May 2007)
The South West of England is one of the UK's best locations for observing whales, dolphins and porpoises (known collectively as cetaceans). This report by Marine Connection and The Wildlife Trusts examines 14 years of cetacean records from the South West of England and summarises what needs to be done to ensure a safe and healthy future for these animals off our coast.
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Fish farm claims more victims
(Added:- 24 April 2007)
Large nets that surround Canada’s west coast's ocean fish farms are claiming more and more marine mammals that are eager to catch a free meal by eating the captive salmon.
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Dolphin mother and calf latest victims of fishing nets
(Added:- 26 March 2007)
A dead baby dolphin caught in a fishing net with its mother was found early Saturday morning by a boater near the Port of Long Beach. The boater spotted the trapped dolphins bobbing in the water and called for help at about 10 a.m., said Long Beach Fire Department spokesman Will Nash. By the time lifeguards arrived, Nash said, the baby dolphin was already dead. "I guess it couldn't get up to breathe," he said. "Lifeguards got in the water, cut the net and freed the mother. She swam off unhurt." Nash said dolphins are frequently spotted off the coast of Long Beach but this is the first time he has heard of them getting caught in a fishing net there.He said the net was retrieved and authorities will try to identify who it belonged to.

Good news for Mexico's marine life
(Added:- 23 February 2007)
After more than six years of campaigning to stop marine life being caught in shark nets, our colleagues at Comarino in Mexico, led by Yolanda Alaniz, have persuaded President Felipe Calderon to approve the new regulation - "NOM 020, responsible fishery of sharks and rays".
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The killing continues
(Added:- 22 February 2007)
A winter morning, the rain lashing down and another dead dolphin washes ashore off Devon. Lissa Goodwin, the Marine Connection's Fisheries & Policy Officer yesterday morning went and recorded another victim of the seemingly endless bycatch slaughter.
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UK storms reveal dolphin bycatch deaths
(Added:- 22 January 2007)
Last week some of the worst storms in a decade battered southern Britain, with winds reaching almost 100mph. The weather continues to be far from calm with high winds and rough seas still causing problems for many who work in association with the marine environment. It is after a severe storm or period of high winds that many volunteers get ready for the onslaught sure to follow - of beaches littered with dead dolphins.
Full report from Marine Connection Fisheries Policy Officer

Dolphin released after net entanglement
(Added:- 4 January 2007)
A bottlenose dolphin caught in shark nets has been released back into the wild. The dolphin was named “Kingy” after Kings Beach on the Sunshine Coast, Australia where lifeguards rescued him after he became entangled last September. The dolphin's pectoral fin was almost severed and he suffered extreme exhaustion, however “Kingy” responded well to treatment and although vets doubted whether they could save his badly damaged fin he pulled through with the right care and food. The dolphin was released off the tip of Bribie Island, Queensland - an area the dolphin should know extremely well so hopefully it won't take him long before he finds his own pod again.

Dead dolphin reignites debate
(Added:- 22 December 2006)
A dolphin hauled dead from a shark net off Noosa National Park last week has reignited interest in the Shark Control Program and the push to reduce the accidental catch of non-target species. The dolphin, found last week, was one of 13 inadvertently caught off the
Sunshine Coast of Australia this year.
For more information please click here

Whale dies in net
(Added:- 16 November 2006)
A humpback whale has drowned in Alaska's Prince William Sound after becoming entangled in the net of a research vessel. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game vessel "Solstice" was conducting routine winter herring research in Sawmill Bay, about 100 miles southwest of Valdez. Humpback whales are an endangered species protected under several US laws but charges are unlikely because it was an accident.

Bycatch workshop proceedings
(Added:- 25 October 2006)
To read the proceedings which were published recently arising from the Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in San Diego, California, December, 2005 - click here