Wild Dolphin Bycatch and Entanglement

Dolphins and small cetaceans die in their hundreds of thousands annually as bycatch in commercial fishing operations, with entanglement in nets causing prolonged drowning or severe injury before death.

Key Facts

An estimated 300,000 cetaceans including dolphins die annually as fishing bycatch worldwide
Common dolphins are particularly affected by pair trawling for sea bass in the Bay of Biscay
Entanglement in gillnets causes drowning — a process that may take several minutes of conscious distress
Acoustic deterrents called pingers significantly reduce dolphin bycatch when properly deployed
France and Spain have been repeatedly criticized for insufficient dolphin bycatch monitoring in Atlantic waters

Welfare Considerations

Dolphin bycatch represents one of the largest and most preventable sources of cetacean suffering globally. Dolphins trapped in trawl nets experience acute terror and prolonged asphyxiation as they are unable to surface to breathe. Animals that escape entanglement may carry embedded net material causing infections, restricted growth and chronic pain. The scale of this mortality — hundreds of thousands of animals annually — dwarfs most discussed conservation crises yet receives limited mainstream attention. Solutions exist: modified net designs, mandatory pinger use and spatiotemporal fishing closures can reduce bycatch dramatically. The barrier to implementation is largely political and economic rather than technical.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood certified by schemes that monitor and report cetacean bycatch rates
Support organizations campaigning for mandatory pinger use and bycatch monitoring in EU fisheries
Advocate for government enforcement of existing bycatch regulations on fishing vessels
Reduce consumption of fish species caught by methods with high cetacean bycatch rates