Bycatch and hunting: estimates by region

Every winter, about 8,000 common dolphins strand on the French coast of the Atlantic seaboard, mainly victims of pelagic pair trawls. The vaquita porpoise of Mexico now numbers about 10 individuals, almost entirely because of the illegal gillnets targeting the totoaba. This database lists the bycatch and the hunts still active around the world, by species, by fishery and by region.

The price of our fisheries

Every winter, 1,200 common dolphins strand on the French coast, victims of pelagic trawls. The vaquita porpoise of Mexico now numbers ~10 individuals, mainly because of illegal gillnets. This database lists the bycatch and the hunts still active around the world, by species and by fishery.

Going further

See also our interactive map of strandings in France, the measured chemical contamination and the IUCN status of the species concerned.

Bycatch: the leading human cause of cetacean mortality

Accidental capture in fishing gear, known as bycatch, kills hundreds of thousands of small cetaceans around the world every year. In mainland France, the Bay of Biscay sees dramatic winter peaks in strandings of common dolphins, correlated with gillnetters and pelagic pair trawlers; the Pelagis observatory estimates that the actual catches are 5 to 10 times higher than the strandings.

Technical solutions exist: acoustic pingers (sound deterrents), closures of the fishery in space and time, circle hooks, modified trawl doors. European regulation 2019/1241 makes some of them compulsory, but their application remains partial. The extreme case is the vaquita (Phocoena sinus) of the Gulf of California, victim of the bycatch of the targeted totoaba fishery, with fewer than 10 individuals surviving.