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Over 300,000 whales/dolphins die in fishing nets annually
Environmental News Service ^ | June 12, 2003

Posted on 06/13/2003 1:23:48 PM PDT by cogitator

Global Bycatch Nets Some 308,000 Cetaceans a Year

WASHINGTON, DC, June 12, 2003 (ENS) - Some 308,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises - collectively known as cetaceans - die each year from entanglement in fishing gear, finds new research by U.S. and British scientists. The study, which was submitted today to the International Whaling Commission (IWC), is the first global estimate of cetacean deaths caused by fishing bycatch.

"This level of bycatch is no doubt significantly depleting and disrupting many populations of whales, dolphins and porpoises," said lead researcher Andy Read of Duke University, who is co chair of World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Cetacean Bycatch Task Force.

"Several species will be lost in the next few decades if nothing is done."

WWF is calling on delegates to the IWC meeting - to be held in Berlin, Germany from June 16-20 - to support a resolution on cetacean entanglement deaths that would make the issue a priority for the commission and encourage member governments to provide funding for research and strategies to reduce the problem.

Read, and his colleagues at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, believe their research adds to growing evidence that death in fishing gear is the leading threat to the survival of the world's 80 plus species of whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Cetaceans can become entangled in commonly used fishing gear such as gill nets, tangle nets, trammel nets, trawl nets and long lines.

The researchers cite several examples of some cetacean species that are on the brink of extinction because of unintentional death from fishing gear, including right whales, harbor porpoises, Irrawaddy dolphins and a small porpoise known as the vaquita.

Some fifteen percent of the vaquita population is killed every year in fishing nets within the Gulf of Mexico, which is the only place on Earth the endangered porpoise is found. It is primarily gill nets set for mackerels, sharks, rays and other species that unintentionally catch vaquitas.

With a population of only around 500, this practice is decimating the species, the researchers say.

But there is some good news, the researchers report -solutions to the problem of entanglement are available, although they vary by region and species involved.

These can include adding gillie floats that break away when hit by a whale, acoustic "pingers" that warn marine mammals away from nets and buoy lines that are less likely to snare whales and dolphins.

The scientists stress that fishermen have been crucial in developing these successful gear modifications and will be vital to increasing the use of improved gear that limits cetacean bycatch.

They note that concerted efforts have worked, in particular in U.S. fisheries, where cetacean bycatch has been reduced by some two thirds in the past decade.

"Solutions to cetacean bycatch are out there," said Karen Baragona, deputy director of WWF's Species Conservation program, "but to tackle the problem on a global scale, we need to boost political will, increase funding for research on cetacean-friendly ways of fishing, and tap into the creativity of fishermen - so that whales and dolphins are protected and fishermen can keep earning a living."

Bycatch is now recognized as one of the major problems with the industrialization of fishing that has occurred in the past few decades. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that some 25 percent of animals caught in fishing gear dies as bycatch.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bycatch; cetaceans; conservation; environment; fishing; oceans; whales
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To: Flurry
Fishing must be banned. We need to eat more bear.

Oh, the Eric Rudolph diet?

21 posted on 06/13/2003 2:08:11 PM PDT by JohnnyZ (I barbeque with Sweet Baby Ray's)
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To: bedolido
I thought whales and dolphins were smart. Can't they figure out how to avoid nets?
22 posted on 06/13/2003 2:32:04 PM PDT by ChiMark
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To: JohnnyZ
I hate salamander, too chewy. Like a slug. Dumpster diving isn't my thing either.
23 posted on 06/13/2003 2:36:49 PM PDT by Conspiracy Guy (I'm not mad, red is my natural skin color.)
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To: Grampa Dave; Poohbah
Thankfully, I only eat dolphin-safe veal.

;)
24 posted on 06/13/2003 2:38:09 PM PDT by hchutch ("If you don’t win, you don’t get to put your principles into practice." David Horowitz)
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To: cogitator
Over 300,000 whales/dolphins die in fishing nets annually

Fine since their dead already, can we throw them in with the tuna to add some flavor?

25 posted on 06/13/2003 2:53:42 PM PDT by husky ed (FOX NEWS ALERT "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead" THIS HAS BEEN A FOX NEWS ALERT)
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To: LibWhacker
More bogus numbers from the envirobogulists.

Having ended, last year, 25 years in the seafood importing biz, I'd tend to say those numbers are just a tad bit inflated....

Orange Roughy, though, may suffer severe depletion. They can live nearly a hundred years, and to be of harvestable size, they are pushing well up there in age. Eventually there may be no more mature fish to regenerate.

26 posted on 06/13/2003 3:01:46 PM PDT by ErnBatavia (Bumperootus!)
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To: ErnBatavia
Since a bottle nosed porpoise supposedly eats at least 40# of tuna a day, why is it that these same nuts are screaming about a decline in tuna.

As far as the above there are probably as many of them in the ocean as there are humans.

On one trip to Cabo for over 24 hours there were bottle nose porpoise moving north as far as you could see in both directions as we were going south at 12k.
27 posted on 06/13/2003 3:13:39 PM PDT by dalereed
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To: steve8714
"The tuna doesn't taste as good as it used too."
28 posted on 06/13/2003 3:23:12 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: LibWhacker
Yep. That number is ridiculous. If true- dolphins and whales would have been all killed off in a matter of half a dozen years. Funny- I saw wild dolphins swimming along the beach in Florida about ten times while I was there this Winter. I have already seen whales this year between the cape and Nantucket.
29 posted on 06/13/2003 3:30:22 PM PDT by Burkeman1
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To: Burkeman1
Must've come from the same group that said that 20 million slaves drowned in the Atlantic.
30 posted on 06/13/2003 3:32:03 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator
You mean the same group that is now claiming there were 12 million Native Indians in America pre-European contact? What a steaming 3-coiler.
31 posted on 06/13/2003 3:37:25 PM PDT by Archimedes2000
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To: Archimedes2000; dfwgator
How about the claims that a million American teen girls died from Anorexia or belumia every year! Or the stat that 1 in 3 American women was the victim of sexual assualt or rape! Nonsence! You mean the same group that is now claiming there were 12 million Native Indians in America pre-European contact? What a steaming 3-coiler.

Actually that is entirely possible if not more. Sadly- most were wiped out centuries before their ancestors ever set eyes on "white men" because of the first initial contacts with Europeons that brought diseases they had no resistance to and which spread all throughout North and South America well in advance of the "white man". When the Spanish explored the Mississippi Delta they found the remnants of the "mound building" culture that had only a generation before been wiped out by small pox before they had ever seen a white man.

32 posted on 06/13/2003 4:12:58 PM PDT by Burkeman1
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To: dfwgator
That lingering aftertaste is due to the mercury mixing with the DDT residues and forming a noxious substance called Greenup". Too much in your fish serving and the green is up.

However, this is the latest from the Congo:

"Natives announce new sauce for long pig dinners."

The NPR reporter said it goes well with the small portions now being popularized in the war zone. UN comments are expected momentarily.

After we receive the latest enlightenment from the UN, perhaps we can expect a new ad campaign about teh newest meat, fresh from Africa.

It'll definitely save some fish, somewhere, sometime - won't it?
33 posted on 06/13/2003 5:55:08 PM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon liberty, it is essential to examine principles - -)
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To: LibWhacker
i am a bit sceptical about these numbers also, but I think saving whales and dolphins is a good thing, especially if it can be done cooperatively with the fishermen. Saving whales doesn't mean you have to kill babies. I like whales and babies--why not save both.
34 posted on 06/13/2003 10:16:48 PM PDT by drhogan
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