The following strandings figures further demonstrate the problem of cetacean bycatch in European waters

In February 1989: 600 dolphins stranded in two days in Landes and Vendee, on the French Atlantic coast.

This event was thought to be a result of fishing mortality by trawlers as many of the bodies showed signs of incidental capture.

January - April 1992: 118 dolphins (of which nearly half were positively identified as common dolphins) stranded in Devon and Cornwall - the vast majority showing signs of bycatch; in 1993, 20 common dolphins; 1996, 30 common dolphins. This pattern was mirrored on the coastlines of other European countries.

Kuiken et al. (1994) identified pelagic trawling for mackerel and pilchard as the most likely cause of the mass mortality of common dolphins in Devon and Cornwall 1992/1993.
The same fisheries were thought to be responsible for similar strandings of common and white-sided dolphins off the south and west coasts of Ireland.
Fishery interactions were identified as the main cause of death of stranded harbour porpoises in the UK by Baker and Martin (1992).

Pelagic trawling for herring was thought to be responsible for harbour porpoise strandings off the southern Irish coast (Berrow and Rogan, 1997).

February - March 1997: in a three week period 629 dolphins stranded on the Southern Brittany and Biscay coasts.
This event was thought to be a result of fishing mortality by trawlers as many of the bodies showed signs of incidental capture.

February - March 2000: in excess of 600 dolphins stranded on the coasts of Cornwall, Devon and Brittany.
This event was thought to be a result of fishing mortality by French and Scottish pair trawlers, fishing for sea bass in the Western Approaches, as many of the bodies showed signs of incidental capture.  

In a BBC programme (March 2000) a Scottish trawler skipper from Fraserburgh stated that several dolphins had died in his nets
A CEFAS observer onboard a UK sea bass trawler recorded many dolphins caught in a single fishing trip. The video was destroyed.

A spokesman for the SFF stated that although there were Scottish trawlers involved, ninety percent of the fishing in the area is done by French trawlers

Fisheries Minister, Mr. Elliot Morley, stated that there had been video footage of dolphins in nets, but that it had been destroyed.
He also stated “This is a breakthrough in terms of our observers being there. It is the first time we have had real evidence about bycatch. We know that trawlers are killing dolphins, and as far as I am concerned we have got enough evidence to take action and we intend to do that”.


January  - May   2001: There was a significant increase in the number of dolphin strandings on the coasts of Cornwall, Devon, Jersey, Guernsey, and France.
This event was thought to be a result of fishing mortality by pair trawlers fishing for sea bass in the Western Approaches, as many of the bodies showed signs of incidental capture.

Marine mammal bycatch in 11 pelagic trawl fisheries, operated by four different countries, in the northeast Atlantic, was studied (Morizur et al 1999). Bycatch rates were highest for the French sea bass fishery.
In this report, as in many others, it stated that the study was compromised as some fishing fleets and ports were unwilling to co-operate, and that bycatch estimates must be treated as a minimum.

On March 30th 2001, a BBC programme featured an item on dolphin bycatch, during which Mr. Morley agreed that government statistics showed that the number of dolphins found on the beaches of Cornwall, January - March 2001, had increased by 66% when compared with the figures for 2000, and that the increase could have been even greater, as many of the beaches where bodies of stranded dolphins are usually found, could not be visited due to Foot and Mouth restrictions.

During the same programme, a senior government pathologist at the Institute of Zoology, in London, stated that of the 18 common dolphins he had post-mortemed January - March, 17 had died as a result of bycatch, which is 94.44%.
Many of the bodies displayed puncture wounds, which were probably made by fishermen in an attempt to make the bodies sink.

Of the stranded cetaceans post-mortemed by veterinary surgeons at the Institute of Zoology in London 1990 - 1997,

34.4% of harbour porpoises were found to be bycatch
60.4% of common dolphins were found to be bycatch
11.6% of other whales and dolphins were found to be bycatch.

39.8% of all cetaceans were found to be bycatch.
(These figures are likely to be an underestimate, as a cause of death could not be established for nearly a quarter of all those post mortemed).

Of the stranded cetaceans post-mortemed by veterinary surgeons at SAC Veterinary Science Division, Inverness, 1995 - 1999,

15.4% of harbour porpoises were found to be bycatch
11.7% of white-sided dolphins were found to be bycatch
16.7% of bottlenose dolphins were found to be bycatch (caught in illegally set nets)
40.0% of Risso's dolphins were found to be bycatch
40.0% of minke whales died as a result of entanglement in fixed ropes, such as creel or mooring ropes.

The report for Contract CR0177, conducted for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, by the Institute of Zoology(Zoological Society of London), clearly shows that for the period 1990-1999, the bycatch percentage of common dolphins in Cornwall and Devon, where a cause of
death was established, was 86%.

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