BBC Wildlife - UK 2020-07)

C

onservationistsarehopingnew

researchintotheeffectivenessof

‘pingers’– acousticdevicesthatdeter

cetaceansfromhuntingaroundfishing

nets– willpersuadetheUKGovernment

to liftitsbanontheiruseinsmallboats.

Themovecouldsavethelivesof

thousandsofharbourporpoisesand

dolphinsthatdrowneveryyearafter

gettingcaughtinfishingnets.

Thenewstudy,publishedinMay,found

thatnotonlywerepingerseffectivein

keepingporpoisesawayfromnets,but

thattheydidnotstoptheanimalsfrom

returningto feedwhenthe boats

hadmovedaway.

Accordingto Ruth

Williams,ofthe

CornwallWildlife

Trust,fishermen

inthevillage

ofMevagissey

wantto usethe

pingersbothto

savecetaceans’

livesbutalso

becauseit costs

time and money

to repairthenets.“In2017,wewere

approachedbythefishermenwhowanted

to stopbycatch,”Williamssays.“Wegave

themsomepingersandtheysoon realised

theywerehighlyeffective.”

Williamslaterlearnedthe

fishermenneededa licence

fromtheMarineManagement

Organisation(MMO),and

sheappliedforonein2018.

“Thelicencewasrefusedon

thegroundsthatthepingers

coulddisturba protected

speciesbyputtingnoiseintothe

environment,”Williamssays.

Accordingto Whale

andDolphin

Conservation

(WDC),morethan

1,000porpoisesalone

dieinUKgillnets

• thetypeusedby
  theMevagissey
  fishery– every
  year.Pingerscould
  reducebycatch
  throughoutBritish
  waters and will not

displacethemfromimportantfeeding

orbreedinghabitats,it adds.

UnderEUrules,pingersare

mandatoryonvesselsmorethan12min

length– buttheyrepresentonly2 per

centofallboatsusingstatic

netssuchasgillnets.

DrRobertEneverofFishtek

Marine,whichmanufactures

thepingers,saysonesmall

boatcanbekittedoutforless

than£250.“TheGovernment

hasjustdesignatedfivenew

SpecialAreasofConservation

(SACs)forharbourporpoises,

butthere’snomanagement

ofthem,”hesays.“Oneof

thethingsyoucoulddois to

requirefisherswhointeractwithporpoise

intheseSACstousepingers.”

TheDepartmentofEnvironment,Food

andRuralAffairssaidina statement

thattheyweretryingto understandhow

pingerscouldbebestdeployedbutthatit

was“nota ‘onesizefits all’ situation”.JF

26 BBC Wildlife July 2020

WILDNEWS

Harbour porpoise: Jelger Herder/Buiten-beeld/Minden/FLPA; pinger: Fishtek/Whale and Dolphin Conservation

FINDOUTMORE

Frontiers in Marine Sciencebit.ly/37lnsjx

Accidentalentanglementofcetaceansis

reduced with acoustic alarms on shing nets.

MARINELIFE

D I D Y O U

KNOW?

Abouta thirdofstranded

dolphinsandporpoises

onCornishshores

in 2019 hadinjuries

consistentwithbycatch

orentanglementin

fishing gear.

Researchinto‘pingers’tostop

bycatch shows they are eective

Newstudyreveals

‘pingers’(below) keep

harbourporpoisesand

othercetaceansaway

fromfishingnetsand

reduce bycatch.