Common dolphins are dying in the Bay of Biscay and Celtic Sea in large numbers as bycatch in French and Spanish fishing fleets. Their welfare emergency is one of Europe most urgent marine conservation crises.
Death in pair trawls causes extreme suffering for common dolphins. Animals are entangled in net meshes, crushed against other catch, and drown in the net — a process that can take many minutes. Injured dolphins that escape may die from their injuries at sea. The scale of the problem — potentially tens of thousands of deaths per year — and the existence of technical solutions (closures, pingers, acoustic deterrents) make this one of the most preventable large-scale marine mammal welfare crises.