Fears that even more dolphins will be killed by trawlers

Dead dolphins crushed by the weight of a super trawler’s massive haul are discarded – a scene conservationists fear will be repeated along the Australian coast.

Serious flaws in how the Dutch-owned Margiris – the world’s second largest trawler – will reduce its bycatch of whales, dolphins and sharks when it is allowed to net Australian waters have been identified by Greenpeace and The Australian Marine Conservation Society.

Greenpeace’s super trawler expert Pavel Klinckhamers said the photos were taken on Dutch-owned super trawlers fishing off Mauritania in 2006.

“Trawlers like the Margiris can trawl for seven hours and if a dolphin is caught it drowns or is crushed if no one notices it’s in the net,” he said.

Greenpeace said Seafish Tasmania, the firm which wants to catch 18,000 tonnes of baitfish off the coasts of NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia, had studied the effectiveness of seal excluders on their trawlers and found seals died in every second trawl.

Source: Herald Sun

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