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Orca Lulu's body contained PCB levels 100x above the safe limit. Image: SMASS

Toxic tides, troubled whales: the toll of chemical pollution

In last week's blog, we examined the challenges whales and dolphins face as they travel...
Group of orcas at surface

Breaking barriers for whales and dolphins at the Convention of Migratory Species

Many species of whales, dolphins and porpoises undertake long journeys, encountering human-made obstacles along the...
Tokyo

WDC in Japan – Part 1: Finding allies in Tokyo

At the end of May, I embarked on an incredible journey to Japan on behalf...
Amazon river dolphins leaping

The state of river dolphin conservation

At Whale and Dolphin Conservation, we partner with conservationists and communities fighting to save river...
Researchers in Southeast Alaska studying whale poo

We’re funding crucial research on whale poo to combat the climate crisis

The ocean is one of the lungs of our planet, and whales help it to...
Narwhal surfacing

The unicorns of the sea must be protected – CITES

The narwhal, is under threat. Often referred to as the unicorns of the sea, narwhals,...
Sperm whales

We’re pushing governments for action for our climate heroes – whales

The climate crisis is the greatest threat to all life on Earth. But there is...
Dolphins captured for captivity in Taiji. Image: Hans Peter Roth

Loved and killed – whales and dolphins in Japan

Protests and criticism from outside Japan in response to the slaughter of whales and dolphins...
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Port River dolphins

New report reveals 100,000 dolphins and small whales hunted every year

When you hear the words ‘dolphin hunts’ it’s likely that you think of Japan or...

Minke whale hunts stop in Iceland

Iceland’s commercial hunt of minke whales has ended for this year. The common minke whale is the...

Australian Government to block Japanese whaling proposal

Japanese Government officials have reportedly confirmed that they will propose the resumption of commercial whaling...

Did Icelandic whalers really kill a blue whale?

*Warning - this blog contains an image that you may find upsetting* They say a...

Icelandic whalers breach international law and kill iconic, protected whale by mistake

Icelandic whalers out hunting fin whales for the first time in three years appear to...

Pregnant whales once again a target for Japanese whalers

Figures from Japan's whaling expedition to Antarctica during the 2017/18 austral summer have revealed that...

Doubts remain after Icelandic Marine Institute claims slaughtered whale was a hybrid not a blue

Experts remain sceptical of initial test results issued by the Icelandic Marine Institute, which indicate...

Japan set to resume commercial whaling

Reports from Japan suggest that the government they will formally propose plans to resume commercial...

End the whale hunts! Icelandic fin whaler isolated as public mood shifts

Here’s a sight I hoped never again to witness. A boat being scrubbed and repainted...

Norway increases whaling quota despite declining demand

Norway's government has announced an increase in the number of minke whales that can be...

Norway's whaling season begins

April 1st saw the start of the whaling season in Norway. Despite a widely-accepted international moratorium...

SOS alert for whales off Norway!

I have to admit to bitter disappointment when I arrived in Tromsø, northern Norway, a...

European Parliament passes up opportunity to improve dolphin and porpoise protection

The whole of the European Parliament (751 MEPs) voted yesterday on new conservation measures for fisheries in EU waters. This included rules covering the accidental entanglement (or ‘bycatch’) of dolphins and porpoises. I’d like to say a massive ‘thank you’ if you took part in our action last week and emailed your MEPs to ask them to vote for better protection.

So, what happened? Well, some things were improved for dolphins and porpoises, but these improvements are marginal compared with what could have been achieved. In summary, it was a great big missed opportunity.

Thousands of dolphins, porpoises and whales die in fishing gear in EU seas every year. Since 2004, most EU Member States have been required to undertake some monitoring and put in place some measures for reducing bycatch in some fishing activities.

In November 2017, WDC released a study that showed clearly that, based on independent scientific evidence, the current bycatch regulation is being flouted by most Member States, and is too weak to understand or reduce this serious problem. You can read about the different levels of compliance with the existing regulation in this WDC report.

Whilst these existing measures protect some dolphins and porpoises in some static nets used by the larger boats of the fishing fleet (>12 metres), the measures are not fit-for-purpose and do not currently cover all regions where bycatch is a problem (including the Mediterranean and Black Sea, for example, where there are huge bycatch issues).

Yesterday’s vote followed previous votes in November last year on a draft regulation by both the Environment (ENVI) Committee and the Fisheries (PECH) Committee. It was a massive opportunity to strengthen these inadequate measures and get much better protection for dolphins and porpoises. The European Parliament had the chance to reduce the numbers of individuals suffering a horrific death in fishing gear, but it let it go.

Unfortunately, not all the measures that we hoped for, including some important ones to improve monitoring and mitigation on a wider range of fishing vessel types (as the science has repeatedly shown are required), were put forward as amendments to be voted on. And there were some measures that we wish had not been put forward – like a proposal to remove existing bycatch measures in the Baltic Sea and in South Western Waters, off Spain and Portugal – where porpoise numbers are already low and declining, and the loss of existing measures would surely have seen these populations perish. Luckily, this amendment was not accepted.

There was further good news as bycatch measures were expanded from dolphins, porpoises and whales to cover all marine mammals, including seals, but requests to include consideration of the suffering caused by entanglement were rejected.

So, there were a few positive outcomes and we are glad of those, but on the whole, this was a massive lost opportunity. The European Parliament had the chance to strengthen protection measures, but they threw it away. We are bitterly disappointed that MEPs did not follow scientific advice and take this chance to strengthen the legislation and save dolphins’ and porpoises’ lives.

We will continue to work with our European colleagues to do all we can to improve bycatch measures throughout European waters and stop dolphins and porpoises dying. We will need your support again along the way, so please make sure you are signed up to receive our e-newsletter or you follow us on Facebook or Twitter so we can let you know when we need you to add voice to ours.

If you’d like to make a donation to help us continue this battle, we’d be very grateful.