EXCLUSIVE: Horror images lay bare how EU fishermen are killing UK marine life with cruel torture methods

Horror photos show a graveyard of washed-up dead seals, seabirds, and other creatures who have suffered lingering, distressing deaths through drowning or dismemberment as they try for hours to pull free.

In response to the distressing scenes and with negotiations officially underway on a new EU-UK fishing deal, fishermen have launched the UK Fisheries Campaign (UKFC).

The campaign to reclaim sovereignty over UK waters is gaining momentum, with prominent politicians getting behind it, including Tim Eagle MSP, Member of the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, representing the Highlands and Islands Region.

The Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Fishing is demanding a "full investigation" to end the destruction of UK marine life and ensure "our vital fishermen are operating on a level playing field". Find out how you can get involved here.

What is going on?

Exclusively in Scottish waters, EU fishermen, in particular those from Spain, France and the Netherlands, use a method called 'gillnetting'.

Also known as ‘static fishing’, an enormous net up to 2km long (which can be up to 10km) is laid like a curtain, with its low end typically resting on the sea floor and its 'curtain rail' being 10 metres above.

The EU vessel then leaves the area to check its other gillnets or to land those catches it has already harvested. Meanwhile, the gillnet just stays there for a maximum of 72 hours (in theory), during which time the fish which live close to the seabed get trapped in it. They are typically caught by their gills: the ‘flaps’ on either side of their heads.

Naturally, all manner of other creatures also get caught in all kinds of ways, including crabs, sea mammals and seabirds.

Within 72 hours, the EU vessel is supposed to return to pull in the net. Even if it does so within that deadline, many of the fish caught when the net was first laid will have already been partly eaten by seaworms and must be discarded.

Sadly, when this activity is unregulated, nets can lie there for much longer than 72 hours, inflicting far more damage and resulting in much of the catch being unfit for consumption.

A major criticism of gillnets is that they are indiscriminatory, catching far more species than the target species being fished for.

This is known as ‘bycatch’ and can be a significant proportion of the overall catch. In other words, this is a ‘blunderbus’ form of hunting, where a significant degree of collateral damage is an inevitable consequence.

Importantly, amongst the unwanted catch can be many species of fish which are on the banned list as their stocks are at dangerously low levels. These are all part of the many reasons why gillnetting is banned in many jurisdictions worldwide.

It is not only fish, and mammals such as seals, dolphins and porpoises, caught in these gillnets used by EU fishermen.

Tragically, large seabirds also get caught as the netting is launched over the back of the vessel. As the netting sinks, they are taken down with it and drowned - even very large birds, as can be seen below.

These gillnets are enormous. The curtains rise 10 metres high and can reach up to many kilometres in length. They can also be used in combination in an area to try to maximise the catch.

A typical gillnet might represent an area of 20,000 square meters of cheap, non-degradable monofilament or multifilament nylon.

The problem then arises when these nets are lost, as often happens. The EU fishermen certainly do not go out on salvage expeditions to clean up the tonnes of plastic they have left littering the seabed and killing all forms of marine life for years.

For years, these UK fishermen have been doing two jobs. For one of them, they receive pay. For the other, they don't.

Every week, they are hauling up the toxic waste left behind by the Spanish, French, and other EU fishermen. And yet the Government's agencies deny that this is a major problem.

If they had thrown this back instead of bringing it back to port, that plastic would have stayed there, continuing to commit its daily, slow murder of the rich marine life off the UK's shores. This is known as 'ghost fishing'.

All the fishermen know who is responsible, but there have never been riots breaking out at our fishing ports.

Instead, they have consulted the government agency in charge of such matters to try to get the issue resolved peaceably. The problem is that they are being told by the agency that "fishing gear is being disposed of appropriately".

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Instead of tossing the bundles of damaged netting overboard, UK fishermen bag it up and take it back to port, where they dispose of it in the free-to-use containers provided.

Not only do UK fishermen have to waste their valuable time on this, they are also losing money as a result of French, Spanish, and other EU fishing vessels effectively ‘closing off’ vast areas of water with their enormous gillnets.

When UK fishermen then enter those areas after the EU fishermen have left (and hopefully have taken their nets with them), they find the area has been voided of any fish.

The fishermen we have spoken to say they have never recovered any EU gillnets marked with official identification labels and do not always see marker buoys used outside the 12-mile limit.

They have repeatedly drawn the attention of the authorities to the problem, only to be told that the Marine Directorate is "satisfied" with how things are going.

We asked the Maritime & Coastguard Agency for any information they have on inspections they have conducted on EU-owned vessels in respect of these legal requirements.

Last year the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) published updated regulations concerning ‘Prevention of Pollution by Garbage from Ships’.

Amongst all the very detailed information is the following: “Plastic has been prohibited from discharge into the sea since Annex V entered into force over 30 years ago.

“The amount of marine debris resulting from the fishing industry is significant, hence specific regulations have been introduced into Annex V to control this category of garbage.”

The MCA goes on to stipulate that fishing vessels are required “to record any discharge or accidental … which includes the accidental loss and certain other discharges of fishing gear, in the Garbage Record Book or, in the case of a ship of less than 100 GT, the ship’s logbook.”

“The details should include the amount and nature of the gear lost or discharged, the position of the ship (longitude/latitude) and the conditions of the marine environment where it was lost or discharged.”

Facts4EU asked the MCA to provide links to all the records it maintains for monitoring and policing these regulations. Unfortunately, they were unable to do so.