A net full of Dogfish at Rhossili

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Scyliorhinus caniculus (L.): Dead Dogfish in a blue fishing net on the sandy Rhossili strandline, Gower, South Wales, UK (1)

Flotsam fishing nets on the beach are common. Usually they are empty. However, earlier this year I spotted a bright blue fishing net half-buried in the sand on the strandline at Rhossili in Gower and I was astonished to discover that loads of Dogfish were tangled in its mesh.

Fish in blue net:: Dead Dogfish in a blue fishing net on the sandy Rhossili strandline, Gower, South Wales, UK (2)

It is not possible to say at what stage the fish had been caught in the net – before or after the net was lost from the fishing boat. Fishing for Dogfish in UK waters is banned. Maybe the net was cut adrift when the nature of its catch was identified. We will never know. Sad to think of these fish first being either deliberately or accidentally caught, then cast away or lost, to end up dying on the seashore. What a waste.

Lesser Spotted Dogfish: Dead Dogfish in a blue fishing net on the sandy Rhossili strandline, Gower, South Wales, UK (3) 

Lesser Spotted Dogfish: : Dead Dogfish in a blue fishing net on the sandy Rhossili strandline, Gower, South Wales, UK (4)

Dead catch of fish in net on the beach: Dead Dogfish in a blue fishing net on the sandy Rhossili strandline, Gower, South Wales, UK (5)

Blue net with dead fish on the beach: Dead Dogfish in a blue fishing net on the sandy Rhossili strandline, Gower, South Wales, UK (6)

Revision of a post first published 5 September 2009

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