Bielli said: “What we want is to make sure that before we advise if pingers are effective that we have enough information collected to do a comparison.”<\/p>\n
She said fishers were “keen” to have pingers on their nets – but they needed scientific evidence to determine whether they were an effective solution for the long-term.<\/p>\n
Will Shugg, who fishes from Mevagissey, has been taking part in the trial as well as voluntarily having cameras monitoring his catches.<\/p>\n
He said: “No fisherman wants to catch a bycatch of any sort really. Not only does it break your heart it ruins your nets.”<\/p>\n
Shugg said fishers were “crying out” to use the pingers but that government policy was an obstacle.<\/p>\n
He said: “That’s the point of this trial – to make it legal for all fishermen to have them to use.” <\/p>\n
The report said alternative solutions such as heavier nets had proven effective in reducing seabird deaths, while weighted ropes in Scotland had lowered the number whales being caught in fishing gear.<\/p>\n
A Defra spokesperson said: “This government is committed to restoring our oceans to good health and we are taking action to reduce the bycatch of marine species.<\/p>\n
“Our flagship programme Clean Catch uses electronic monitoring to collect bycatch data and evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation measures, and our new Seabird Bycatch Action Plan will look to reduce seabird deaths in and around English waters.”<\/p>\n
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