EU agrees to review dolphin deaths

After pressure from the Government, the EU has agreed to review the data on dolphin and other cetacean deaths in the English channel and western coast.

The high number of dolphins washing up on the Devon and Cornish beaches is increasingly a matter of concern for environmentalists and the Government. Campaigners believe they are being caught and drowned in the vast pair trawling nets operating off the coast.

Under the agreement, all EU data on bycatch will be reviewed at the end of the year.

UK Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw, said: “I am delighted that the Commission has agreed to the UK’s request. We have always made clear that the UK will do what it can at a national level to protect dolphins and porpoises, but we recognise that in order for measures to be effective to protect highly migratory mammals in fisheries outside our own waters, more EU wide action is vital.”