Greenpeace volunteers in the Channel today (8am 15th March 2005) stopped two French boats from pair trawling for sea bass in UK waters - to stop them from killing dolphins in their nets. An hour later (9am) Greenpeace found three dead dolphins with their stomachs cut wide open floating in the sea. The volunteers retrieved the dead animals, whose stomachs are likely to have been slit in an effort to make them sink, onto the Greenpeace ship, Esperanza, for documentation.
Greenpeace swimmers in the Channel today attempted to prevent dolphins being caught and drowned in fishing nets by placing themselves in the path of two boats dragging a huge net between them.
The UK boats Ocean Star and Ocean Crest are part of the sea bass pair trawling fleet which is estimated to kill thousands of dolphins in the Channel every year.
A dead dolphin bearing the tell-tale signs of being killed in a large fishing net was today (22 February) found floating 18 miles south of Plymouth by the Greenpeace ship Esperanza.
Observers onboard the vessel spotted the dolphin at 9.10am and, after battling gale force winds, were eventually able to bring the dolphin onboard. The Institute of Zoology and the Natural History Museum, who co-ordinate information on dead dolphins, will be contacted by Greenpeace with all the relevant information. The male dolphin measured just over two metres.
Results from a study of common dolphin numbers in the English Channel during winter months have caused renewed concern for the future survival of these animals. WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, and Greenpeace are calling for a ban on sea bass 'pair trawling' in the Channel.
In a new report, researchers from WDCS have given a provisional estimate of 9,700 common dolphins in part of the Channel that overlaps the main fishing ground last winter when the survey was conducted.
Summary report of the 2004 WDCS/Greenpeace winter survey
Summary
A joint WDCS/Greenpeace cetacean survey using conventional line-transect techniques and trialling other survey methodologies, including acoustic detection, carried out between 21 January and 1 March 2004 in the Western Approaches of the English Channel.
Greenpeace today slammed the European Union for pushing cod closer to extinction in British waters.
Under pressure from Tony Blair's government, EU ministers ignored scientific advice calling for a halt to cod fishing for the third year in a row. They also threw out proposals to close some fishing grounds to protect cod stocks.
Even though scientists and environmentalists stress that the only way to save beleaguered cod stocks is to enforce a 'zero catch' allowance, EU fisheries ministers chose to leave the cod quota at last year's already high level.
Greenpeace calls on Government to act on sound scientific advice
Greenpeace today called for Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw not to cave in to fishing industry pressure and heed calls from scientists to grant zero quotas for cod fishing next year. The International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) today advised that all cod fishing should be halted in the North Sea, Irish Sea and west of Scotland as stocks are well below recommended levels.
05-10-2004 Greenpeace today warned that the world's largest mountain range, which lies under the sea, and the multitude of wildlife it supports, including giant squid, is being destroyed by destructive fishing practices.
The mountain range, which is made of many underwater mountains, or 'seamounts', stretches from Iceland to the Azores and is threatened by bottom trawling, a method of fishing that ploughs up the ocean floor.
