The Wildlife Trusts has published a report highlighting how the UK legal system is failing whales and dolphins in UK waters.
The report found that while much of the UK’s waters are designated as Marine Protected Areas or safe areas, these fall very short in protecting cetaceans.
According to the report, protection is inadequate or poorly enforced in many cases. In some cases, they are not up to date with the available information surrounding whales and dolphins in UK waters.
The report calls on the UK Government to undertake the following steps:
- Improve enforcement and management of existing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
- Protect key feeding areas that support whales, dolphins and porpoises.
- Reduce accidental bycatch in fishing gear by phasing out the most harmful nets and testing safer alternatives.
- Create a UK plan to reduce underwater noise from both shipping and marine development with clear limits to protect sea wildlife.
- Improve monitoring of whales, dolphins and porpoises using more surveys, better technology, and citizen science.
According to Ruth Williams, head of marine conservation at The Wildlife Trusts:
“Our report reveals that action to protect dolphins, porpoises and whales is wholly inadequate. Simply designating areas as protected sites is not enough; what’s needed now is real action if whales, dolphins and porpoises are to flourish in our waters once more.
“That means managing our existing Marine Protected Areas, including those in the North Sea, more effectively to reduce the most harmful fishing practices, cut underwater noise from ships and offshore developments, better protect important feeding areas, and improve how we monitor these animals. If governments and industries act on the evidence already available, we can quickly reduce harm and give North Sea cetaceans a real chance to recover. However, without faster, clearer action, the UK risks falling further behind in protecting some of its best-loved marine species.”
Check out the full report at wildlifetrusts.org.
(Featured Image: Risso’s dolphins (c) Ben Stammers via Wildlife Trusts)
