Dolphins face death in nets

Dead dolphins have been found tied together

Thousands of dolphins could be illegally killed off the coasts of France and the West Country this winter, a leading campaigner has warned.

The number of dead dolphins being washed ashore on the beaches of Devon and Cornwall has risen every year since 1990.

Devon campaigner Lindy Hingley said that this winter the toll in Devon could reach 100 - thought to represent only a small percentage of those trapped in trawl nets.

The rise is linked to trawlers working in pairs, with giant nets strung between them.

Dolphins are unable to escape from trawl nets

The dolphins are caught in the nets as an unwanted "by-catch" - often while feeding on fish.

"The dolphins don't stand a chance," said Mrs Hingley, joint owner of a local trawler and founder of Brixham Seawatch, set up to monitor dolphin and whale sightings.

"They are mammals and they need to come up for air, and they can't.

"They drown in these giant nets.

"Common dolphins are dying in their thousands."

Mrs Hingley's warning is endorsed by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, based in Bath.

The society said Europe's common fisheries policy fails to protect sea mammals, because it leaves individual nations to control their own crews and waters.

Rotting carcasses

There is no monitoring of catches aboard the growing number of pair-trawlers that head for the English Channel in search of mackerell and sea-bass.

We have had a few which were obviously alive when they got them on board. They would have died of their injuries anyway

Lindy Hingley, Brixham Seawatch

Europe-wide action is needed as part of a current review of the fisheries policy, the society says.

Ships from several countries - including the UK - use the pair-trawling method in the English Channel.

One Devon boatman has told how he saw 14 pairs working as a single fleet.

Mrs Hingley, who is taking part in a conference on wildlife crime at Exeter this weekend, found 87 common dolphins on Devon beaches last year.

Many had ropes attached to their tails, used by trawlermen to sling their heavy bodies over the side.

Two were even tied together, having been caught in the same trawl.

Local boats whose nets trawl the sea bed also brought up rotting carcasses, said Mrs Hingley.

Often the bodies had puncture wounds, apparently made on the pair-trawlers so they would sink.

That way the bodies would be less likely to reach the shore, thus disguising the scale of the scale of problem, she said.

"They cut right through the heart and lungs and get the air out of them," Mrs Hingley told BBC News Online.

"We have had a few which were obviously alive when they got them on board. They would have died of their injuries anyway."

Sixty bodies

Last winter Mrs Hingley sent 60 bodies to London for post-mortem examination.

"Every single one was an illegal by-catch," she said.

"The problem is growing because there are many more boats doing it."

Much of Mrs Hingley's information comes from within the industry itself, from local fishermen who know her as a colleague.

"A lot are very angry," said said. "They love to see dolphins and they feel quite strongly about it."