MEPs call for net 'pingers' to stop trawlers killing dolphins

MEPs have backed plans to equip trawler nets with sonic "pingers" designed to frighten off the thousands of dolphins and porpoises that are caught and drowned each year.

Some 10,000 harbour porpoises are killed in the North Sea and Celtic Sea every year, and the Baltic Sea porpoise population is said to face extinction within 20 years.

The European Parliament gave an overwhelming endorsement to European Commission proposals for compulsory "pingers", an immediate 2.5km net width limit and a total ban on the relevant nets in the Baltic by 2007. With Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia among the countries ready to join the EU in May, they may now have to apply the measures through their commitment to the Common Fisheries Policy.

The sonic devices, which cost from €40 (£27) to €100 each, would have to be fitted about every 100m on all gill nets in areas frequented by species at risk. Additionally, under the measures agreed yesterday, national governments would be required to establish a system of monitoring, with onboard observers examining "bycatches". Danish studies show that the porpoise bycatch is almost eliminated in nets with pingers attached.

Yesterday's vote is not binding and the final decision rests with ministers from EU governments, who will discuss the plan later this year. The proposals have already received the broad backing of the UK's fisheries minister, Ben Bradshaw.

There was all-party support for the measure from UK MEPs. The Liberal Democrat leader in the European Parliament, Graham Watson, said: "While not wishing to make an already troubled life harder for the EU's fishermen, we have a responsibility to protect our environment and the animals within." Neil Parish MEP, Conservative fisheries spokesman, said: "Unless we take urgent measures there is a real possibility that dolphins and porpoises could be wiped out from waters around the UK."