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Wildlife Trust launches dolphin campaign |
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| Dolphins
- at risk from fishing nets |
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The
Devon Wildlife Trust is raising money to fund a two-year campaign
to put pressure on Europe to ban pair trawling - blamed for killing
dolphins around our shores. |
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Thousands
of dolphins and porpoises are being killed in the seas around Devon
and Cornwall each year, with pair trawling being blamed for the slaughter.
This year, the UK responded by unilaterally introducing a ban on the
form of fishing, where two trawlers work together. Their nets scoop
up fish in their thousands, but larger creatures such as dolphins
also get caught.
Europe has refused to introduce a ban on pair trawling, saying there's
not enough evidence it is to blame for the dolphin deaths.
Now, the Devon Wildlife Trust is to spend two years collecting data
to present as evidence to Euro bosses.
Staff
and volunteers will be gathering information on strandings from around
the Devon coast.
The trust wants to keep watch on beaches where carcasses might come
ashore.
They will also be tracking the movement of dolphins - and training
boat owners to track the dolphins off shore.
As part of that, the trust is buying equipment which can track and
count the creatures, to get a better idea of where the animals are
most at risk.
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| Trust
director Paul Gompertz |
But
the two year project will cost around £40,000, and the trust
has started a fund raising campaign.
Trust
director Paul Gompertz said action must be taken to save the dolphins:
"Something must be done.
"Last year we recorded nearly 350 dead dolphins and porpoises
in Devon and Cornwall, and scientists estimate that only 5% - 10%
of those killed ever get washed up.
"That's anywhere between 3,500 and 7,000 being killed every year.
"One minute, an exuberant celebration of life, the next a limp
carcass to be discarded when the net is pulled on board the fishing
boat. It can't be right.
"We cannot justify treating them as a waste product of our appetite
for fish.
"As a conservation organisation, we are concerned with the long
term future of these animals which are at risk - certainly around
our shores, if not world wide.
"The only thing we can do now is provide more and better data.
So far, we have operated on a shoestring, collecting data as and when
we could. This is no longer good enough."
For information on helping the trust, visit their website which is
linked from the left of this page.
Article written: 12th November 2004.
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