UK turns dolphin-friendly

Wide-net trawling for bass outlawed in Channel The English Channel will no longer play host to industrial trawlers that kill hundreds of dolphins every year. The UK government has announced a ban, from this November, on the practice of dragging half-mile-wide nets between two boats in search of sea bass. And fisheries minister Ben Bradshaw hopes to complement this with a limit on the number of British boats that switch to catching bass because of new restrictions on North Sea cod. “A bold decision to be applauded,” says the Marine Stewardship Council’s new CEO Rupert Howes, not least because the unilateral legislation will affect up to 60 French trawlers too. The catch, though, is that vessels will only have to comply within the British 12-mile territorial limit. Beyond that, they are governed not by national but by EU rules - and Joan Edwards of the Wildlife Trusts fears that “the same number of dolphins are going to be caught next year unless similar action is taken within the EU Common Fisheries Policy”. But Bradshaw hopes to “lead by example”. Marine conservation - and particularly the creation of a network of reserves - will be one of his priorities when Britain puts on the EU presidential hat next year. - Hannah Bullock

10 November 2004

Hannah Bullock