Fishing nets identified as main killer of dolphins in Cornwall

A new study has identified fishing nets as the primary cause of death for common dolphins stranding on the Cornwall coast. Conducted by the Cornwall Marine Pathology Team, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, and the University of Exeter under the Defra-funded Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, the research analyzed data from over 860 short-beaked common dolphins stranded between 2018 and 2024.

Of the 175 dolphins that underwent necropsies, 39 per cent died due to bycatch, which involves entanglement in fishing gear. Other significant causes of death included infectious disease (25 per cent), live stranding of healthy animals (10 per cent), non-bycatch trauma (eight per cent), and starvation (seven per cent).

Representatives from the Cornwall Wildlife Trust have called for urgent, high-level action to improve the management of static net fisheries and to provide local fishers with better access to bycatch mitigation technology. They noted that reducing these interactions would benefit both wildlife and the fishing industry by protecting nets and catch.