Cetacean Bycatch Bycatch is the incidental capture of non-target species, in any fishery.
Bycatch poses the most serious threat to dolphins, porpoises and whales.
In the UK, they are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, the Conservation Regulations, and the Countryside and Rights of Way Act. There are laws and regulations which prohibit the harassment, abuse and killing of porpoises, dolphins and whales. However, the fishing industry defies all the conventions, regulations, and laws under which cetaceans are protected, and appears to be immune from prosecution. Tens of thousands of cetaceans are dying in fishing nets each year. They become entangled in tangle nets, trammel nets, drift nets, trawl nets, gillnets and long lines.