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Progress for our campaign as New Zealand takes action to protect dolphins from fishing nets

Progress for our campaign as New Zealand takes action to protect dolphins from fishing nets

Following our long-running campaign to save endangered Hector’s dolphins, the New Zealand government has announced action … but will it be enough? Hector’s dolphins live only around New Zealand and their safety and survival is at risk from dying in fishing nets as ‘bycatch’. We’ve been campaigning hard to get the most dangerous nets banned…

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Urgent step change needed to stop dolphins suffering in fishing nets

Does sustainably caught fish mean no harm has come to dolphins? The quick answer to that question is ‘no’. If you buy fish with a ‘sustainably caught’ or ‘dolphin safe’ eco-label, unless caught with a pole and line, you have no way of knowing whether dolphins, porpoises or whales suffered and died in the process…

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New season looking out for Risso's dolphins

I was on an early morning beach dog walk on Monday, our first day back on the Isle of Lewis this year when I saw a fin slice out of the water in the quiet, still bay in front of our accommodation. I held my breath. Not just any fin, but a Risso’s dolphin! We…

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WDC helping to shape the future for UK dolphins and porpoises

Last week, WDC took part in a two day workshop to help shape a “UK Dolphin and Porpoise Conservation Strategy”. We hope the strategy, once finalised will help to protect these species from bycatch, disturbance, pollution, noise and other pressures, individually as well as collectively. We warmly welcome this initiative, which has developed from an…

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WDC joins experts at Zoological Society to try to prevent whale and dolphin deaths in fishing gear

Accidental entanglement in fishing gear (bycatch) is the biggest killer of dolphins, porpoises and whales. On Tuesday evening I joined about 150 supporters and fellows of the Zoological Society of London at an evening event looking at this massive problem.  It was presented by the manager of the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, Rob Deaville.…

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Opportunity lost in EU Ministers bycatch vote

On Tuesday there was an important vote in the European Parliament Fisheries Committee about fisheries conservation measures including future bycatch measures for dolphins, porpoises and whales. Here is a summary of what happened in the vote on bycatch.  The existing (inadequate) rules for monitoring and mitigating dolphin and porpoise bycatch remain intact for now and…

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