Campaign to stop fishing gear entangling marine animals
A ground-breaking project is helping reduce mammal, shark and turtle entanglement in creel fishing gear in Scottish waters.
NatureScot has published a report on the first phase of the Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA) project, the first of its kind in the UK, which brings together commercial creel fishers, NatureScot, research scientists and marine mammal conservation and rescue charities to better understand the scale and impacts of marine animal entanglement in Scottish waters.
Entanglements in fishing gear and marine debris can have welfare and conservation impacts on marine animals, causing injury, impairment and death. Entanglement is the largest identified cause of death due to human activity in minke and humpback whales in Scottish waters and the only known cause of human-driven mortality in basking sharks and marine turtles. During at-sea surveys, more than 22 per cent of live minke whales observed on the west coast of Scotland showed evidence of previous entanglements.
The project involved interviewing 159 creel fishers about their fishing practices and their experience of entanglements. A total of 146 entanglements over a 10-year period were reported. Only a small number of these entanglements were previously known, demonstrating that entanglements are hugely under-reported. The interviews also revealed that a wider range of species were involved than previously known.
Fishers also participated in training events and workshops to promote best practice, reduce entanglement risk and safely disentangle large marine animals from fishing gear. This training gave fishermen the ability to call on each other and provide a rapid response to any entangled animal.
Dr Kirstie Dearing, NatureScot’s Fisheries Advisor, said: ‘We all find it upsetting to see our majestic marine species in distress, so we’re really heartened by the strong commitment and willingness of the fishing industry to work towards practical, safe and sustainable solutions on the issue of entanglement. We will only solve this problem by working in collaboration on potential legislative changes. The new reporting obligation will also help us to understand the extent of the issue more clearly.’
Based on feedback from the fishers, the report recommends a number of ways to combat marine entanglement, including trials of weighted ropes – ropes which sink rather than float – and tighter regulation to limit the amount of gear in the water and caps on creel numbers, all of which were supported by fishers involved in the study.
Other recommendations include developing seasonal distribution maps of vulnerable species to identify potential high risk areas and trials of ‘on-call’ – or ropeless – fishing systems.