IDW Launches Safeguard the Seas Crusade

IDW aims to recruit a million
WEBSITE WATER WARRIORS (WWW)

to alert politicians to the problem and get new international laws introduced and enforced. IDW aims to attract youngsters to the crusade with the help of Dilo, a mischievous young dolphin with a star on his dorsal fin which signifies he has a mission.

Dr Horace Dobbs, author of DOLPHIN HEALING (Piatkus Books Tel: 0171 631 0710) says "For over two decades dolphins have been helping brain damage children and adults with clinical depression and other illnesses. Now is the time to give something back. I want to set-up a human dolphin circle in which dolphins help people help dolphins. A win-win strategy."

Note: Copies of the April 2000 issue of DOLPHIN (price £3.00 inc. p&p) can be purchased by credit card here, by phone (+44+(0)1482 645789), by fax (+44+(0)1482 634914) or by sending a cheque payable to IDW to:

International Dolphin Watch, l0 Melton Road, North Ferriby, East Yorks. HUI4 3ET England.

The Times : England : February 29 2000

Trawlers’ new nets blamed for

dolphin deaths

By Simon De Bruxelles

The bodies of five dolphins were found on one three-mile stretch of beach near St Ives this week alone. They are believed to be the latest casualties of vast pelagic or mid- water nets, each the size of a football stadium, which are hauled between pairs of giant trawlers. The new stranding brings to 28 the number of dead dolphins reported in Cornwall this year, with a further 14 in south Devon.

Although the toll is small compared with the 400 dolphins washed up on France’s Atlantic coast last month it represents just a tiny proportion of those killed by the pelagic nets. Linda Hingley, of Brixham Seawatch, said: "The sight of a dead dolphin is one of the saddest, most heart-rending things you can see."

Mrs Hingley, whose husband John is a Brixham trawlerman, believes that five pairs of Scottish trawlers and at least 30 French boats are responsible for the carnage.

She said: "I have been to check every one of the dead dolphins washed up in south Devon and all show the tell-tale signs of having been caught in pelagic nets. Nearly all those I’ve seen have been young adult males and were otherwise perfectly healthy."

Giant trawlers have been fishing for shoals of bass, mackerel and other oily fish off the Southwest coast of Britain for the past eight weeks.

The record catch by a pair of pelagic trawlers is 750 tonnes of fish in one haul.

Dolphins are believed to dart in and out of the nets in search of food. When they are hauled in, however, they become trapped and drown. Three of the bodies have been taken away for post-mortem examination by government scientists to confirm the cause of death.

Nick Tregeuza, of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said:

"There have been reports of as many as 50 dolphins being trapped in one net." Mark Simmonds, director of science for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said: "They are dying faster than they can reproduce."

Conservation groups are lobbying the Government to press the European Union for curbs on the size of the nets or even a ban.

Elliott Morley, the Fisheries Minister, said: "In France the trawl operators have vehemently denied they are taking catches of dolphins but if it can be shown that these trawlers are responsible we will take action."

Read on or go to ACTION CENTRE NOW!

The Times : England : March 23 2000

Nets could drive dolphins to extinction in Atlantic

FROM ADAM SAGE IN LA ROCHELLE

DOLPHINS in the Atlantic Ocean are threatened with extinction as a result of new fishing techniques that are more dangerous than drift nets, according to French scientists.

The warning comes after the bodies of about 400 dead dolphins were washed up on western French beaches over the past fortnight.

"What we see is only the tip of the iceberg," Anne Collet, head of the centre for research on Marine Mammals at La Rochelle, said.

"A vast majority of the dead dolphins, sink to the bottom of the sea. We estimate that thousands are killed every year in this way." She said that, with the latest research suggesting total stocks in the Atlantic of about 130,000 dolphins, "there won’t be any left in 20 years’ time if we carry on like this".

At the centre of the problem are said to be French and Spanish trawlers, which drag funnel-shaped pelagic nets, which can be more than 100 yards wide, in search of anchovies, hake, herring, bass and other fish.

Mine Collet said the number of dead dolphins seen on French beaches had increased six-fold since the introduction of pelagic nets at the end of the 1980s.

They pick up everything that crosses their path, including the dolphins, which are asphyxiated because, as mammals, they need to come up to the surface to breathe every ten to 15 minutes.

At La Rochelle yesterday, fishermen were wary of discussing the problem, although a few admitted to catching "the odd dolphin" in their nets. "The real problem is over-production, which is destroying the fish stocks, which is in turn pushing trawlermen to look for boats which are more powerful and more sophisticated, " Fabien Dulon, the head of the trawlemen’s co-operative in La Rochelle, said.

"The solution would be a two-year moratorium - but who would pay us to sit around and do nothing?"

A message from Dr Horace Dobbs, hon Director and Founder IDW

"So what are we going to do about it?

Fishermen already have quotas which limit the number and type of fish they can catch lawfully. If we have to stop them fishing altogether in some areas to allow fish stocks to recover, then we must compensate them. A precedent has already been set with "set-aside" in which European farmers are paid to leave land fallow, because of overproduction.

I propose we attempt to turn these two negatives into a positive situation. One way to achieve this would be for fishermen to become fish farmers - who feed their stock from the excess of land-produced food - not fish meal. This will take time. There will be problems of course, but none of greater magnitude than those already resolved by the land farmers who have successfully turned food production into profitable, ecologically sound, sustainable businesses.

First however, we must stop overfishing and the accidental slaughter of dolphins. To achieve this we must bombard those who have the power to change the laws with demands that these huge nets should be banned and measures Introduced to allow fish stocks to recover.

You could help right away by visiting the Website Water Warriors Crusade Action Centre. Go now!
 Help save the Dolphins

International Dolphin Watch 10 Melton Road, North Ferriby, E.Yorks HU14 3ET. England.
Tel: +44 (0)1482 632650 Fax: +44 (0)1482 634914 E-mail: idw@talk21.com