New study on indiscriminate death traps known as tangle nets

We need a ban on the use of tangle netting to bring an end to the carnage of threatened and protected species says ecologist Pádraic Fogarty as a new Marine Institute report highlights serious problems facing wildlife in Ireland's first marine environment National Park

Washed-up tangle netting on the Kerry coast. Picture: Pádraic Fogarty 

It is nearly two years since Ireland’s first National Park in the marine environment was announced. Páirc Náisiúnta na Mara, Ciarraí includes the seas around the Dingle Peninsula and the Blasket Islands — but a new report from the Marine Institute highlights some of the serious problems facing wildlife in this area.

The report looks at the practice of tangle netting... basically a lose ball of monofilament net that is weighted onto the sea floor and left to soak for anything up to a week and a half. Fishermen use the gear to target crayfish (sometimes called crawfish) which look very much like a lobster but without the pincers.