No 10 in new fishing row as foreign trawlers dump tons of sea bass into the Channel

Foreign trawlers are dumping fish in the Channel as the Government refuses to take action to curb the practice.

Footage obtained by The Telegraph shows a Dutch fly-shooter dumping thousands of fish last month by cutting open a net.

There are strict limits on bass because of depleted numbers, but fly-shooters catch them accidentally while fishing for other species and must then return them to the sea, following UK Government rules.

Fly-shooters fish by dragging weighted ropes along the seabed with a long thin net in between, designed to capture entire shoals of fish.

However, campaigners argue that it shows fly-shooters “cannot operate within sustainable legal limits”.

Dr Ian Hendy, a fisheries expert at the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Marine Sciences, estimated that the video showed 10 tons of sea bass, equal to between 5,500 and 11,000 individual fish.

Despite being released, many would die through being caught in the net or because of damage to their swim bladder caused by being brought rapidly to the surface, he said.

‘Big fisherman don’t care… as long as they make big bucks’

He said: “The impact to losses of genetic variability with spawning individuals is huge with such a vast capture in one swoop. This is by no means a reflection on inshore, artisanal fishermen. Big fishermen swoop in and don’t care about atrocities as long as they are making the big bucks.

“They’re continually doing these atrocities without reprimand. It happens a lot more frequently than people realise. It wipes out whole fisheries – it’s the equivalent of napalming the ocean.”

The trawling also releases carbon dioxide by scraping along the seabed, leading to calls for it to be banned.

The catch seen in the video is understood to be unusually large, but experts said “bycatch”, where fish are caught by accident by trawlers, was common and often resulted in dumping.

The practice has attracted controversy and criticism from smaller fishermen who say that it damages fish stocks and prevents them from making a livelihood by fishing more sustainably.