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A first-of-its-kind report has exposed the “shocking” scale of bycatch deaths caused by the UK’s commercial fishing industry.
The known “victims” include tens of thousands of animals across multiple species, including rare birds, sharks, and endangered humpback whales.
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According to Wildlife and Countryside Link, the coalition of voluntary conservation groups behind the report, more than 10,000 seabirds, 1,000 whales, dolphins, and other cetaceans, 1,000 endangered Atlantic salmon, 500 seals, and 120 tonnes of protected sharks and rays are accidentally killed every year within UK waters by commercial fishing vessels. Globally, the fishing industry accidentally captures and kills millions of animals in this way. They are often from species that cannot be kept or sold, including non-aquatic animals, and are collectively known as “bycatch.”
Commercial fishing has an inherent negative impact on target species, such as cod and haddock, as well as the ocean environment in general. However, bycatch is an additional, devastating driver of population decline, biodiversity loss, and extinction.
‘The Government mustn’t let these terrible losses continue’
Richard Benwell, the chief executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said, “The Government mustn’t let these terrible losses continue. To protect marine wildlife, Ministers must finally deliver strong bycatch action plans, backed by strict mandatory monitoring and enforcement, before more wildlife is pushed closer to extinction.”
Wildlife and Countryside Link specifically called on the government to require remote electronic monitoring on all fishing vessels that operate within UK waters.
“Thousands of animals die every year in UK waters because of avoidable fishing deaths. From razorbills and dolphins to endangered salmon and sharks, the scale of destruction exposed in this report is shocking, with animals dying in awful and unnecessary ways,” Benwell said.
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‘These figures are just the tip of the iceberg’
Wildlife and Countryside Link published the report, Hidden in the Haul: The true scale of bycatch, in June. The authors analyzed existing bycatch data to create the report, but warned that the estimates it contains are likely a fraction of the actual numbers.
Jack Renwick, a conservation officer at The Shark Trust, said, “This report highlights the level of bycatch for just a select few protected shark and skate species. Hence, these figures are just the tip of the iceberg of the complex issue of elasmobranch bycatch in fisheries, with a wide range of species subject to chronic underreporting.”
According to Wildlife and Countryside Link, the UK Government is currently failing to meet its legal obligations to achieve Good Environmental Status in its waters.
Marine Protected Areas, bottom trawling, and a canceled ban
An analysis by Greenpeace showed that at least 1.347 million tonnes of fish were caught inside UK Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) from 2020 to 2024. Of these, over one million tonnes were caught by pelagic trawlers, which drag gigantic nets through the water and scoop up everything in their path.
Furthermore, 250,000 tonnes of fish were caught using bottom-towed gear, which destroys everything on the seabed. In October last year, government ministers said that the UK would not implement an outright ban on bottom trawling, despite announcing widely supported plans to do so less than four months before.
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