Bycatch - recommendations

Dolphin ecology, behaviour and strandings

• As a matter of urgency, undertake research to identify trends in populations of harbour porpoise, common dolphin and bottlenose dolphin.
• Conduct close-up studies of how dolphins and porpoises interact with selected fisheries and, in particular, how they behave around the nets.
• Conduct in-depth recording from strandings, including a complete record of environmental factors (i.e. wind speed and direction, tidal information etc.), which will permit us a greater understanding of variations in strandings numbers.
• A fully resourced strandings scheme is required to permit necropsies to be conducted on all cetaceans in suitable condition and to ensure all reported strandings are recorded.

Fisheries and conservation measures

• Develop new legislation to protect cetaceans. New laws must be be proactive, flexible and swift in implementation, to cope with protection of a highly mobile species living in a complex ecosystem.
• Report on the distribution of fishing effort, number of vessels (both under and over 12 metres in length), types of nets used, length of net, soak times and other key parameters, so that specific fisheries may be linked with bycatch incidences and targeted mitigation measures applied.
• Introduce a monitoring programme to assess the efficacy of bycatch mitigation measures, in order that changes can be made as required.
• Produce detailed plans for the effective introduction, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of the pinger requirements in UK fisheries. This should include monitoring of population distribution to assess whether there is any displacement of groups due to pinger deployment.
• Either extend the requirement for mandatory use of pingers to all UK vessels in the fisheries listed in Annex I of the EC Regulation 812/2004 (including vessels under 12 metres in length), or introduce alternative mitigation measures including restrictions on the use of gill/tangle nets to achieve protection of vulnerable inshore populations of cetaceans and to prevent effort shifting to the under 12 metre sector.
• Conduct compulsory observation of vessels that deploy pingers, to ensure their correct and effective use, and thorough monitoring of their impacts.
• Extend bycatch monitoring studies to include vessels under 12 metres in fisheries and areas listed in Annex 1 of the Regulation.
• Increase research and development of alternative bycatch mitigation measures and more sustainable fishing methods.
• Give power to the inshore fishery management bodies to close fisheries that are known to have a catch of cetaceans, turtles, seabirds and/or seals, until a suitable, working mitigation device and/or measure has been identified.
• Introduce an effective licensing system for inshore fisheries that gives the Sea Fisheries Committees the power to attach conditions to fishing licences when issued and change them as necessary.
• Require all new developments in aquaculture, new fishery projects or practices, significant changes in gear design and new areas of exploitation to be subject to Environmental Impact Assessment.

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