Industrial fishing for sandeels may quickly be banned beneath new Authorities proposals, providing a number of the UK’s best-known fowl species a “lifeline”.
Sandeels are small, eel-like fish which can be an vital supply of meals for threatened birds akin to puffins and kittiwakes.
Whereas warming seas are lowering the sandeel inhabitants, industrial fishing provides additional stress and reduces the quantity accessible for the birds in the course of the breeding season.
Kittiwake numbers have fallen by half because the Nineteen Sixties whereas the historically sturdy colony of puffins on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast is in decline.
Each species are on the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature’s Purple Checklist of Threatened Species.
There’s an pressing have to construct the resilience of our seabird colonies in addition to serving to to rebuild the general well being of the North Sea for all marine wildlife.
Katie-jo Luxton, RSPB
A report from NatureScot in 2021 discovered that Arctic skuas had declined by 81% because the Nineteen Eighties, with sandeel fishing being an element.
The Authorities mentioned that with out efficient administration, sandeel fishing within the North Sea poses a danger to the breeding success of UK seabirds.
A full ban on fishing may enhance the seabirds’ abundance inside 10 years, in response to consultants at Pure England, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Centre for Setting, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science.
Melissa Moore, head of coverage at Oceana UK, mentioned a ban on sandeel fishing is “a lot wanted” and that industrial fishing for all species must be banned in Marine Protected Areas.
The Division for Setting, Meals and Rural Affairs (Defra) has launched a session on introducing restrictions on sandeel fishing in English waters.
Setting Secretary Therese Coffey mentioned: “Britain’s seabirds are stunning to watch and a treasured a part of our coastal atmosphere and their existence and methods of life are essential to the broader well being of our marine ecosystems.
“This session is a crucial step in securing their safety and delivering our dedication within the Setting Enchancment Plan to halt the decline of nature and permit wildlife to thrive”.
The Authorities hopes to construct on the three Extremely Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) it designated on the finish of February by operating the session, which can final for 12 weeks till Could 30.
The HPMAs will come into impact by July and can ban actions akin to fishing, building and dredging.
Environmental teams have urged the Authorities to massively lengthen HPMAs saying they cowl solely 0.5% of English waters.
The UK was a part of the UN settlement in December which set a goal to guard 30% of the world’s seas by 2030.
Katie-jo Luxton, director for conservation on the Royal Society for the Safety of Birds, mentioned of the session: “That is large information for the UK’s efforts to avoid wasting our iconic seabirds.
“Many years of accelerating ‘human-induced’ pressures in our busy seas have left our seabirds in a precarious state, and a ban on industrial trawling for sandeels would throw our most threatened seabirds a lifeline within the face of mounting pressures in our seas.
“This can be a essential second; after final 12 months’s devastating outbreak of extremely pathogenic avian flu and with main new offshore power developments deliberate, there may be an pressing have to construct the resilience of our seabird colonies in addition to serving to to rebuild the general well being of the North Sea for all marine wildlife.”
The session announcement comes virtually per week earlier than the screening of a brand new sequence narrated by Sir David Attenborough, Wild Isles, which highlights a number of the UK’s pure dwelling wonders.
Kate Norgrove, government director of advocacy and campaigns for World Huge Fund for Nature mentioned: “The UK is residence to a number of the most spectacular species on earth and our seas a number of the richest in Europe.
“However we’re pushing nature to the brink, and consequently, it urgently wants our safety and restoration.
“If we’re to assist stabilise our local weather, our financial system and depart a planet match for the subsequent technology, we have to see many extra measures to deal with the systemic challenges that proceed to push nature to the brink.”
