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“Pingers” for nets may become compulsory
JASON GROVES
Western Morning News
20th March 2003
Dozens of West-country fishermen could be forced to fit special acoustic "pingers" to their nets as part of a Government drive to reduce the number of harbour porpoises being caught accidentally.
Fisheries Minister Elliot Morley said yesterday he hoped to make the use of pingers compulsory from the autumn on all boats using gill nets.
The plan is part of a "dolphin strategy", to be launched today, which was criticised last night by fishermen and conservationists for failing to tackle the wider problem of dolphin deaths in the Westcountry.
So far this year 168 dolphins have washed up dead on the beaches of the Westcountry - most thought to have been killed by fishing activity.
Mr Morley said research in Denmark had proved that the pingers, which emit high-pitched noises, were effective in persuading harbour porpoises - a popular sight in the Westcountry - to move away from nets in which they could otherwise sometimes become entangled.
The move will mainly affect the Cornish fishing fleet, where up to 150 small boats and around 20 boats over ten metres use gill nets to catch hake and other fish. Mr Morley said he was prepared to consider aid to help fishermen pay for the devices.
But Paul Trebilcock, of the Cornish Fish Producers' Organisation, said local fishermen would oppose the move as "totally unnecessary", and Mr Morley was using the issue to distract from the main cause of dolphin deaths - the use of huge nets in the winter bass fishery.
"We are not saying we are whiter than white, but we are working with environmental groups to come to a constructive way of dealing with the problem," he said. "Everyone, including Mr Morley, knows where the real problem is. This is just a knee-jerk reaction from him to make it look like he is doing something."
Mr Morley admitted that more action needed to be taken in the French-dominated winter bass fishery, where powerful trawlers work in pairs, towing a giant net between them. He said "dolphin-friendly" nets being tested off the Westcountry coast would be made compulsory on British boats next winter if they proved effective. Conservationists have questioned the effectiveness of the nets and called for an immediate closure of the fishery.
Mr Morley also paid tribute to the WMN campaign on dolphin deaths. He said: "We are beginning to see meaningful results from the work we are doing on dolphin protection. The campaign by the WMN and the information from local people in the Westcountry in terms of strandings has been very influential in taking this forward.
"This strategy is an illustration of our determination to act. It is just frustrating that the French do not recognise there is a problem."
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