Fishing law aims to save seabirds

The aim is to cut the toll of seabirds being caught in the nets of fisherman licensed to catch salmon and sea trout in Filey Bay while also keeping alive a century of tradition.

Hundreds of seabirds have been dying every summer after becoming entangled in fishing nets cast for salmon and sea trout off Filey Bay.

The "horrific scenes" reported by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) led the Environment Agency to close the Filey Bay fishery for two weeks of the 2008 season under a voluntary agreement.

But this spring new rules are in place to stop the toll – largely be ensuring nets are not left unattended in the water overnight.

After years of attempts of solve the problem the new bylaw was welcomed by the RSPB yesterday.

The Environment Agency had been pressing for changes after concerns were raised over the number of razorbills and guillemots being drowned among the European-important breeding populations at Flamborough Head and Bempton cliffs.

Six netsmen are licensed by the agency to catch salmon and sea-trout using fixed nets at Filey Bay – an activity that has taken place there for more than 100 years.

Amanda Miller, the RSPB's conservation manager in Northern England, said that the RSPB began lobbying the Environment Agency to address the problem in 2008.

The organisation too action after being alerted to the situation by local people.

An RSPB investigation revealed that large numbers of seabirds were being killed as a consequence of the salmon and sea-trout fishery in the bay.

One of the main reasons birds, particularly guillemots and razorbills, were getting trapped were because they were foraging under water for fish, she added.

Following the investigation, the RSPB worked together with the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Filey fishermen to find a solution that would minimise seabird deaths while enabling the fishery to continue.

The new rules requires that in the month of June, the time when birds are most at risk, fishermen must take their fishing nets out of the water overnight, attend their nets at all times when in the water, and use high-visibility material in their nets to give the birds more chance of avoiding them.

Ms Miller continued: "We believe that the byelaw is an effective way to introduce measures designed to minimise incidental seabird deaths in Filey Bay, while maintaining a sustainable fishery.

"However, it is vitally important that the fishery and seabird by catch are monitored closely in this first year of the byelaw. Evidence from this year's monitoring will feed into a review of the byelaw, to ensure that it is fit for purpose."

The byelaw is also backed by Natural England and RSPCA.

A Filey netsmen spokesman said fishermen had worked with conservation groups for two years in an attempt to reduce bird catches and would continue to do so.

Working with Natural England, the RSPB and the fishermen, the Environment Agency initially introduced a voluntary code of conduct for the fishermen earlier this year to help protect local seabird populations.

An independent report, commissioned by the Environment Agency, looked at the numbers of birds accidentally caught in nets.

Razorbills were found to be the most vulnerable.

It followed monitoring that showed that the numbers of birds caught were higher when fishing nets were left overnight or unattended.