Wild Dolphin Bycatch: Suffering in Fishing Nets

Dolphins and porpoises drown in fishing nets worldwide in their millions annually, making bycatch one of the most significant welfare and conservation threats facing cetaceans.

Key Facts

An estimated 300,000 cetaceans die as bycatch in fishing gear annually worldwide
Entanglement in gill nets causes drowning — dolphins must surface to breathe and cannot escape
Death from entanglement takes minutes to hours and involves extreme stress and physical struggle
The vaquita porpoise faces extinction primarily due to gill net bycatch in the Gulf of California
Acoustic pingers attached to nets reduce dolphin bycatch by alerting them to net presence
Observer programs monitoring bycatch remain inadequate to accurately estimate mortality rates

Welfare Considerations

Bycatch drowning is a profoundly distressing death for cetaceans. Dolphins are air-breathing mammals that must surface regularly, and entanglement prevents this — they struggle increasingly desperately as oxygen runs out, suffering fear and physical struggle before losing consciousness. The scale of this suffering is enormous: hundreds of thousands of individuals experiencing this death annually across global fisheries. Acoustic deterrent devices (pingers) can dramatically reduce entanglement rates at modest cost, but their deployment has been inconsistent and poorly enforced. Consumer pressure for bycatch-reducing fishing practices is one of the most effective levers available.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood certified by programs requiring low cetacean bycatch rates
Support mandatory deployment of acoustic pingers on gill nets in dolphin and porpoise habitat
Advocate for independent observer programs on fishing vessels to accurately monitor bycatch
Donate to organizations working on bycatch reduction technology and policy
Reduce seafood consumption or choose bycatch-free alternatives to lower demand from harmful fisheries