Slaughter isn't the only threat that we pose towards cetaceans. Fishing nets are very dangerous to dolphins and porpoises. Very often, dolphin or porpoise pods will be chasing a school of fish that fishermen in boats with nets are trying to catch. When the net is drawn up, the dolphins or porpoises will get tangled in the net and drown because they are unable to swim to the surface to breathe. We can not forget that they are mammals and need to breath air!
Fishing nets kill hundreds of dolphins and porpoises every day, and can be just as dangerous to species' populations as slaughter. Sometimes, divers will get in the water and help the pods out before the net is drawn up, but sometimes they won't either. Many other creatures become tangled in these fishing nets, such as seals, sealions, sharks and small whales.
I think that it is very sad, but I'm not sure what the solution is. I have heard of dolphin safe tuna nets, but I don't know how they work. I have heard of dolphin safe labels on tuna cans. I am thinking maybe that they should not catch a school if a dolphin pod is nearby. Also, they should always have people who get in the water and help the dolphins escape. The only way to stop all of it is to not use fishing nets, and catch tuna by spearfishing. But I, not really a person to care about fish themselves, only that they are very important to dolphins, think that spearfishing is cruel.
ReplyDeleteWhat we need to do is have people design a kind of net that allows dolphins to escape. There may already be one, and if there is, they ALWAYS need to be used.
Interesting. I guess it's just not economical for fishermen to take safeguards against entanglement. Maybe we need tighter regulations; however, this would most certainly drive the price of fish up. Maybe we should all eat more steak and less fish:).
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should eat more steak. But some countries needs a lot of fish. I'm am not really a fish person and I think tuna is disgusting. There are a couple saltwater fish that I love though, mahi-mahi (called dolphinfish when they are alive. They are labeled as mahi-mahi to avoid confusion with the fish and real dolphins) and halibut. But those are big fish, and they are caught with a hook and line. Catching freshwater fish though, such as talapia and catfish, doesn't harm dolphins. Maybe we should all stick to freshwater fish and large saltwater fish.
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