The biggest threat to marine ecosystems globally is destructive and unsustainable fishing practices. An estimated 23% of the global fisheries catch is thrown back into the sea, dead and wasted. As well as over-fishing target fish stocks, fisheries are destroying the biodiversity of the oceans.
Cornwall based artist Kurt Jackson has added his voice to those calling for an end to pair trawling for sea bass - which is killing thousands of dolphins in the Channel every year.
Jackson joined the crew of Greenpeace's flagship Esperanza last week to lend his support to their campaign. As a resident of west Cornwall he regularly sees the end results of the fishery - dead dolphins washed up on Cornish beaches.
Greenpeace's flagship the Esperanza left Falmouth on the 17 February to campaign for a total ban on pair trawling for sea bass in the Channel. Since then the onboard team have been gathering evidence of the impacts of pair trawling and taking direct action to stop pair trawlers from operating. The crew have also collected dead dolphins from the sea for later delivery to the Institute of Zoology for full post mortem.
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.
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.
