Dolphins aren’t discard… so why are hundreds dying in trawler nets in the UK each year?
Dolphin pic from @sussex_dolphin_project's Instagram account (give them a follow)
Beachy Head lighthouse, at low tide, August 2026, by me.
They say every day’s a school day… I didn’t know until this weekend that the bottlenose dolphins in Sussex’s coastal waters are the biggest of their type in the world – up to 500kg in weight and 4 metres in length. Flippin’ huge.
I took my youngest on a boat tour with the Sussex Dolphin Project for his birthday and it was led by none other than its managing director, Thea Taylor.
Absolutely stunning to see Sussex from the sea – the Seven Sisters, the famous coastguard cottages at Cuckmere Haven, the beautiful Beachy Head lighthouse, not to mention hundreds of sea birds and some very regal cormorants.
And, yes, bottlenose are big. But they’re nothing compared to the size of the nets of supertrawlers which trap and kill hundreds of dolphins in the UK every year as ‘bycatch’. (See pic below.)
These supersized nets, designed to haul fish on an industrial scale, are so vast that not only do they leave local small-boat fishers with next to nothing (a real problem) but that they also capture, kill and discard dolphins and other marine wildlife.
In 2020, the Sussex Dolphin Project began to notice a correlation between the presence of supertrawlers in Sussex, and an increase in dead dolphins washing up on beaches.
Since November 2021, these jumbo vessels have been required to report mammal ‘bycatch’ to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) within 48 hours.
How many reports do you think there have been? Well, according to the response to an FOI request submitted by the World Cetacean Alliance, the answer appears to be zero. No such data exists.
And that means that the UK’s legislation is not working. There is no accountability for the needless killing of dolphins and other marine animals. Sussex Dolphin Project is pushing for mandatory remote monitoring to hold these vessels accountable.
This is the 'Dolphins Aren't Discard' campaign from the Sussex Dolphin Project and the World Cetacean Alliance. Find out more on their websites.
Trawler net graphic from the World Cetacean Alliance and Sussex Dolphin Project.