Written evidence submitted by Captain Garry Oates, Chair of Blue Seas Protection (MM0018)

EVIDENCE SUBMITTED ON:  27th May 2022

By:

Captain Garry Oates

Chair of Blue Seas Protection

Reg. UK Specialist Marine Conservation Charity 1189529

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BIOGRAPHY: Capt. Garry Oates

From a young lad I grew up at sea in the marine salvage business, always in wonderment of sealife surrounding us in the UK. I learnt to dive to discover the beauty of the underwater world; I became a mariner, professional diver across all spectrums including Salvage, MOD, NATO, Civil Engineering, Fisheries, to reach the top of my marine profession.

In the 1980s, my father, Capt. Silas Oates and I, gifted a vessel to GREENPEACE that became the environmental campaign vessel, “Rainbow Warrior”; we owned the world’s largest Sidewinder Trawler, called “The Revenge”, which became the vessel for the pirate radio, ‘Radio Caroline’; in the 1990’s, we owned the UK’s 1st Factory Fishing vessel called “The Arctic Freebooter”.

Over 40yrs I acquired unique first-hand experience of the sea, the subsea world and the impacts on it.

I Give Witness:

It was during that time I witnessed the destruction of a vast mackerel shoal 26miles long x 2miles wide in the S.W. approaches to the UK, (sea-area off Lands End), which had been there for generations.  The mackerel were unable to be fished until the introduction of Pelagic Trawl fishing methods (late-1970s) when ‘mid-water’ fish, such as mackerel, could now be captured. The shoal was wiped out in the 1980s, never to return...All this fish went for fertiliser (not for food); greed/profit made some people very rich at the expense of ocean sealife and sustainable food sources.

So I became a Marine Conservationist.

2017-2022

I am proud to be the Co-founder and Chairman of Blue Seas Protection, a registered charity.

Alongside Co-founder Secretary Susan Betts, our Patron Dame Joanna Lumley, volunteers, supporters, independent funders/donors, our fast growing charity’s focus is marine conservation education, awareness, campaigns, encouraging change at every level.

We fight for our oceans, the protection of them and all marine sealife; we have worked in some deep and dark places so we’re “fighting for our oceans, never out of our depth”.

Reasons for Submitting Evidence:

As Chair of Blue Seas Protection, I originally instigated the petition: “STOP TRADING With the Faroe Isles as 1000s of dolphins & whales are being killed” (13JUL21). After several rejected attempts it was kindly re-drafted by Dominic Dyer: Wildlife Campaigner, Writer, Broadcaster. 

The redrafted petition was accepted on: 26JUL21, ‘went public’: 21SEPT21, Closed: 21MAR22.

Within 6 months the petition, “Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale & dolphin hunts end”, amassed 104,665 signatures exceeding the minimum 100,000 signatories’ threshold, prompting this new Inquiry: Marine mammals and ‘Call for Evidence’ issued on Sat 30APR22. 

The Petition’s 104,665 UK+Global signatories say: ‘The Grind Has to Stop Now!’

Blue Seas Protection thanks Dominic Dyer and all the signatories, who represent every single UK constituency including UK fishing communities, 120 countries: including Denmark, British Antarctic Territories, Zambia, Vatican City and even countries renowned for whaling/overfishing.  These signatories bear the world’s weight and strength of feeling against trade deals that support the wholesale slaughter of dolphin/porpoise/whales in order to service International and UKConsumers’ ‘Fish Friday’ meals. 

Marine Mammals are Sentient Beings and are now protected under UK Law

Blue Seas Protection welcomes the Royal Assent for the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 (28APR22), and the Animal Sentience Committee to oversee government policies to ensure the welfare of animals as sentient beings is recognised at every level.  Therefore, whale/dolphin/porpoise welfare, directly affected by fish-trade deals, including the UK-Faroe deal, is now protected under UK law.

As Chair of Blue Seas Protection, on behalf of our Patron and Board of Trustees, I thank the Inquiry Committee for considering these matters we put before them.

THE MARINE MAMMAL COMMITTEE WILL BE

CONSIDERING THE FOLLOWING 6 QUESTIONS:

1. WHAT IS THE STATUS OF MARINE MAMMALS POPULATIONS?

With emphasis on the North Atlantic sea area, populations of marine mammals such as dolphin, porpoise, whales are in decline and the lowest for 20 years. The main cause is overfishing and by-catch. ‘By-catch’ is any fish caught other than the original ‘target’ fish eg: Target Fish=Mackerel, By-catch=Dolphin.

As dolphins live within shoals of target fish, dolphins are caught by the hundreds if not thousands per annum.  This by-catch ‘collateral damage’ is hidden from the public and is not detailed on fish ‘point of sale’ product labels for consumers to make informed decisions at ‘point of purchase’. 

Consumer demand is quoted as reasons to increase quotas of ‘acceptable by-catch’.  Yet Consumers are unaware that their weekly traditional demand for fish’n’chip suppers are contributing to the annual traditional slaughter of dolphins, porpoises and whales, all of which are now rare to see along our UK coastlines. 

STATUS: Sustained Annual Depletion

The status of marine mammal populations around the UK is ‘sustained depletion’ as a result of an annual traditional slaughter called ‘The Grind Hunt’, as whales, porpoises, dolphins who swim around the UK also swim around the Faroe Islands at the time of ‘Grind Hunts’, which occur throughout each year. 

Since 2019, 20% of the Faroe’s global trade is exported to the UK, a £100 million per annum in exchange for tolerating 1453 dolphin/pilot whales being hunted on jet skies during just one ‘Grind Hunt’ in 2021.  This equates to £68,823 per dolphin/whale killed per annum of the UK-Faroe Islands Trade Deal.  It also equates to 1453 less dolphin/whale in our coastal waters in addition to future offspring. Pilot whales live for 45yrs; dolphins potentially live to 60yrs and have approx 10calves - currently, dolphins live only a third of their life expectancy deleting dolphins’ future offspring.

A Sustained Annual Depletion of Marine Mammal Populations which is totally avoidable and the UK-Faroe Trade Deal is actively endorsing the appropriately named: Grind Hunt.

Fishing Methods:

In addition to Grind Hunts, the types of fishing methods to blame for the Sustained Depletion of Marine Mammal populations are: Supertrawlers, Pelagic Fishing and Netters.

Supertrawler (MSC definition): large commercial fishing trawlers that stay at sea for several weeks. Also called “factory-trawlers” as their large size (14,000 tonnes), carries processing facilities onboard enabling ‘catch’ to be frozen and stored.

Supertrawler (Blue Seas Protection definition): any trawler over 60m in length, with an engine horsepower more than 3000kw and over 2000 tonnes in weight. These Supertrawlers require massive engine-power to tow enormous plastic nets to catch fish/marine mammals that cannot overpower or escape - compared with smaller traditional vessels using natural cotton net materials.

Pelagic Fishing (MSC definition): Pelagic trawls are cone-shaped nets towed behind a Supertrawler; designed to catch mid/surface fish.  All fish/marine mammals ‘caught’ are towed for hours before the net is hauled-in.  The space inside the net reduces whilst the ‘drag’ water pressure increases, crushing the fish, including dolphins, seals, whales, to death as they can’t reach the surface to breathe. The net spans: 600meters wide (over half-a-mile wide), 1000meters long - big enough to fit an entire British village or

St Paul’s Cathedral inside.

Netters (seafish.org definition): commercial ‘Static Gear’ - a static/baited trap to attract fish to swim into it but not out, marine mammals become trapped too. Types of static gear are: Gill nets, trammel nets, wreck nets, tangle nets.

By-catch:

All non-target fish/marine mammals caught indiscriminately are classed as ‘by-catch’ and can legally be kept and sold; consumers assume that ‘by-catch’ is thrown back into the sea still alive. By-catch depletes food webs and marine mammal populations never intended for the consumer market. 

“Fisheries by-catch causes deaths of more than 650,000 marine mammals each year, yet ‘by-catch’ is actively encouraged.” PNAS

Ghost Fishing:

When I was diving I witnessed many lost abandoned monofilament nets, which are non-biodegradable ‘see-through’ immensely strong nylon plastics. Sea Plastic only degrades once it’s exposed to surface UV sunlight meaning that abandoned plastic nets are ‘preserved in tact’ under the sea; these nets do not stop fishing…they continue to repeatedly catch fish indefinitely, attracting more marine life to become indiscriminately caught in an endless fishing cycle.  The net becomes so densely full of dead, dying, rotting sea creatures, including marine mammals, it creates carpets of white bleached skeletons on the seabed.

This is known as “Ghost Fishing”

According to GGGI, 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear nets are lost at sea per year, and is the biggest threat to our oceans due to this unseen, unmonitored devastation.

As a Marine Salvor Commercial Diver, diving on shipwrecks at depths of 60-80m, I’ve been up close and personal to fish caught in Ghost nets; the fish and marine mammals struggle for days until total exhaustion occurs…and unnecessary death.  I have flashbacks now, 20-30 years later; there were so many of them I couldn’t release them all. 

On a deep dive, a diver only has 5-6 minutes of ‘bottom time’ without decompression (meaning if you go beyond 5-6mins you have to decompress before returning to the surface).  To come across entangled animals during the course of your work, with little/no ability to help them is extremely distressing. I use my voice as a Sea Advocate to let people know what is happening, as many people do not dive or witness this vast scale carnage that is occurring solely due to lost/abandoned non-biodegradable, strong plastic nets.

AIS Vessel Tracking

Vessel Tracking under Maritime Law is mandatory on ALL vessels over 300 tonnes (including small sustainable fishing vessels). However Supertrawlers have been able to evade this legislation, either via loopholes or lobbying to enable them to fish without being AIS tracked or traced. This loophole enables just Supertrawlers to fish within Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) undetected or evidenced…fraud is systemic using pelagic fishery methods which IS impacting the marine species that we are trying to protect and conserve. 

If you can’t track or trace a Supertrawler how can you ever know the true status of marine mammals even within a small MCZ?

Excess Fish and Fish Quotas

A trawler’s ‘catch’ is only weighed when the fish are pumped ‘onboard or ashore’ into processing factories - then ‘landed’ fish quotas are logged/monitored. 

Note:

Quotas refer to ‘allowable’ amounts of fish species that can be ‘landed’ – not ‘caught’. 

Excess fish ‘thrown-back’ into the sea are not counted at all.

The reality is: vessels can ‘catch’ as much as they want; it’s only the fish that are ‘landed’ that are checked against quotas. Excess fish are thrown back ‘dead’ into the sea or pelagic trawlers discharge their ‘excess caught fish’ into ‘Klondyke vessels’.  This excess dumping or transfer of fish ‘at sea’ is unregulated, therefore marine mammals caught up as ‘excess’ in these fishery practices are equally unregulated, unmonitored and hidden.  

Marine Mammal Fatalities at Sea:

“1,100 dolphins were found on France's Atlantic coast beaches since January 2019” reported The Guardian, France 24 during MAR19. The dolphins were not only dead but badly mutilated, many with fins cut off. The massive amount of deaths was blamed on the industrial fishing industry.

It was estimated that the true figure killed was over 10,000 dolphins, as only 1-in-10 dolphins wash-up ashore, the vast majority sink to the seabed never to be recorded. This is in addition to the 2019 Grind Hunt slaughter; this is despite dolphins being a protected species under UK:EU Law.

In my experience, when a dolphin is caught it uses all its oxygen, suffocates and dies in the net. Dolphins have to return to the surface to breathe. When dead dolphins are brought aboard ship they are thrown back overboard and sink ‘at sea’.  A minority of dolphins, with air left in their lungs, will float and wash ashore dead.

How do we know what the ‘UK Status of Marine Mammals are’?

The UK Cetacean Strandings Programme monitors reports of stranded marine mammals, investigating cause of death only if suspicious.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species states: “out of 41 dolphin species, five species and six subspecies are endangered”.

Organisations who try to protect cetaceans nationally + globally include: ORCA, Whale and Dolphin Conservation; WWF panda.org and World Animal Protection.org…

…but who is actually, independently, monitoring the ‘Status of ALL marine mammals’ specifically inside UK waters? Are they widely known and trusted?’ 

This is a question that Blue Seas Protection would like the Inquiry committee to investigate and consider.

2. HOW AND FOR WHAT PURPOSES ARE MARINE MAMMALS BEING KILLED?

Whales/dolphins/porpoise/seals are killed by: Whaling, By-catch, Ghost Fishing, Ship Strikes, Net Entanglement, Toxic Contamination, Oil/gas development at sea, Stranding, Habitat Degradation, Climate Change...

In addition, dolphins/whales are being brutally killed for a traditional blood sport called ‘The Grind’. In 2021 1,453 hundred were killed in one day. This 9th century tradition was originally for human food + resources, but in the 21st century the Faroese people have access to all the worlds’ foods including McDonald's, Coca Cola and the richest fishing grounds in the world, so there’s no need for this horrific act. 

Traditionally Grind Hunts were done in rowing boats, now Faroese hunt with jet skies and fast plastic motor boats.

The dolphins/whales, who are sentient beings, are rounded up in terrifying sustained attacks before being hauled-up onto red beaches and bludgeoned to death.  This family/community event occurs throughout the year; each hunt ends with dead marine mammals proudly photographed as trophies.  These are mammals with fears, feelings, with calves alongside/inside them; they are family with no understanding of why they are being hunted and no means to defend themselves or even flee.

UKConsumers unknowingly support the GRIND; white fish purchased in every UK supermarket, corner-store, fish-market or seaside fish’n’chip shop originated from the Faroes. The Faroese economy is benefiting from UKConsumers’ ‘Fish Pound’: the jet skies, the fuel, the motor boats used for ‘The Grind’ are being funded by us in the UK.  If this is because of Consumer Demand, then the Consumer should be advised of the environmental impact their food choices are having on Sentient Marine Mammals who are now protected under the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022.

3. BEYOND WHALING WHAT HUMAN BEHAVIOURS ARE AFFECTING WHALE POPULATIONS NOW?

The lack of bait fish for whales - Industrial-scale krill harvesting is depleting whales’ food sources…

This is in addition to:

a)      unsustainable fishing methods, the UK-Faroe Trade Deal and the Grind; increased commercial shipping=whale strikes;

b)      plastic consumption contamination within the fish-food web, chemical pollution from shipping/land run-off=unhealthy whales;

c)       increased military sonar disrupt whales’ communication and internal mapping systems=affects their physical wellbeing, access to feeding/breeding areas and inhibits natural breeding behaviour. 

Whale Populations’ Sustained Depletion continues in a gradual hidden downward spiral.

4. HOW EFFECTIVE ARE THE GLOBAL PROTECTIONS OF MARINE MAMMALS?

Not effective at all! Why? Because the laws are not enforced…

1. It is illegal to harm, intend to harm or kill a dolphin in UK:EU law. It is illegal to chase dolphins with a boat, yet trawlers target fish knowing there’ll be dolphins hunting in with the fish; the Grind revels in the chase, corralling before traditionally murdering dolphin/whales.
2. Of the 91 Marine Conservation Zones in the UK, no protection is given to these mammals, in fact these MCZs are commercially fished and dead dolphins are disregarded as ‘by-catch’.
3. Recent UK legislation changes state that all by-catch has to be recorded in onboard vessel logbooks.  We floated this to fishing groups, who laughed, “do you think we are going to report this happening, don’t be daft”; But who conducts By-catch Audits?
4. Despite ‘Global Protections’, the IUCN + PNAS state: between 25%-37% of marine mammals face extinction.
5. The IUCN’s examination of the threats on the ‘Red List’ shows that nearly half of all species are threatened by two or more human impacts: pollution being most pervasive followed by fishing, invasive species, development, hunting, climate change.

5. HOW CAN WE BETTER PROTECT MAMMALS?

Send clear messages:

“The UK will not tolerate trade deals with countries who participate in whale/dolphin hunting or killing.” 

“UKConsumers will not tolerate traditional mass slaughter of cetaceans in order to service their demand for traditional fish’n’chips.” 

“Support UK Fisheries to sustainably fish locally to service UK’s consumer fish market.” 

“All UK islands have direct sea access, so ensure UK protected Marine Conservation Zones have no commercial fishing allowed within - enabling fish/marine mammals’ breathing space to live/breed/grow naturally.” 

“UK Fisheries with conservational goals, targets, ambitions, with sustainability at their heart, will give UKConsumers confidence that from sea to plate, each fish eaten is not at the expense of a protected marine mammal.”

Blue Seas Protection proposes 8 Action Points:

1. Fit CCTV to all Supertrawlers to monitor ‘by-catch caught’, Klondyke Transfers or ‘excess thrown over-board’.

2. Compulsory AIS on ALL fishing vessels including Supertrawlers to enable full track and trace.

3. Annual Audit system of ‘by-catch’ log books: with announced/unannounced visits by designated ‘independent’ organisations, similar to the Soil Association.

4. Public Release of all fishing companies ‘by-catch’ logs, to enable easy public scrutiny and encourage fisheries participation.

5. Stop Pelagic Trawling and only permit Purse Seine fisheries: this will stop the indiscriminate catching of ‘all’ sea life within the mid-water zone and enable some trapped marine mammals to be released before the haul is pumped. It will also stop the loss of tonnes of commercial plastic nets reducing the impact of Ghost Fishing.

6. Stop all Gill Netting in UK waters, instead support ‘Pole and Line’ fishing methods: to reduce the amount of ‘by-catch’, catch more sustainable quantities of target fish, prevent Ghost Fishing.

7. Remove Plastic from All Fishing Nets: use sustainable fishing net materials that degrade completely when lost/abandoned.  Strong biodegradable cotton/hemp nets were traditionally used.

8. “Fish Free Friday” Campaign: Individuals can protect marine mammals by reducing Consumer demand for fish especially if ‘Marine Mammal Protection’ legislation is lengthy, delayed, non-existent or toothless. “Fish Free Friday” would magnify consumer unease and encourage consumers to consider fish sources.  The withdrawal of the ‘Consumer Fish Pound’ will demand change where legislation/fisheries fail to respond.

6. WHAT ROLE CAN UK GOVERNMENT PLAY TO PROTECT AND PROMOTE THE CONSERVATION OF MARINE MAMMALS INTERNATIONALLY?

Blue Seas Protection proposes 9 Action Points:

1. Promote Marine Mammals as ‘Sentient Beings’ under the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act. This will encourage other countries to reconsider the conservational status of marine mammals and adopt the same approach.
2. Send strong messages that marine mammals are protected with no room for purposely killing them in the 21st century by any country for any reason.
3. Refuse fishing trade deals with countries who allow indiscriminate killing of dolphins/seals/whales.
4. Killing marine mammals as ‘by-catch’ will not be tolerated, at any level.  Public investigations conducted by independent organisations should hold Fisheries accountable for every count of Marine Mammal harm/death.
5. Set an example: make killing a dolphin/seal/whale a crime within UK waters or via international fish trade deals on behalf of UK consumers; issue trade penalties or UK custodial sentences. 
6. Publication/advertising of all Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) globally to increase public knowledge of vibrant marine conservation, educating UKConsumers on where their fish comes from, enabling informed purchases when fish are sourced from within UK/international MCZs.
7. Close “flags of convenience” loopholes allowing other countries to fish UK waters.  We learnt on 11MAY22, that the Faroes have allowed Russian ships to fish UK waters under the UK-Faroe Reciprocal Trade Agreement. 

The ‘loophole’ means Russian fishing vessels are taking fish/by-catch/marine mammals from Scottish waters, fuelling the Russian economy. “The Telegraph reports that ‘a ban on Russian boats entering UK waters or landing at British ports does not extend to a “special area” over which control is shared with the Faroe Islands…at least six Russian boats had recently entered the area off the north coast of Scotland under Faroese licences.”  As reported in Scotland’s ‘The National’.

8. Create more UK Marine Conservation Zones and Sea Corridors to link them up, enabling movement of species and a breathing space - similar to land Wildlife Corridors. 
9. Introduce ‘No Fishing Months’ for commercial/recreational fishing, enabling fish stocks/fish bait recovery for larger cetaceans.

END

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Blue Seas Protection Evidence Submission to Government Inquiry: Marine Mammals 27th May 2022