‘Hidden in the Haul’ Report
SRT's Founder and Director, Sue Sayer MBE, together with Bex Allen (SRT's Science Advisor and Marine Officer at Cornwall Wildlife Trust), recently attended an important parliamentary event highlighting the urgent issue of bycatch.
To mark the launch of the new Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) report, Hidden in the Haul, MPs were invited to a drop-in event at Westminster Hall on 10 June 2026. The report presents, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the data behind bycatch incidents, revealing the true and alarming scale of the accidental capture and death of marine wildlife in UK waters. The findings provide a stark reminder of the urgent need for stronger monitoring, mitigation measures and action to protect our marine species.
Left to right: Tom Ash (WCL); Sarah Dolman (Environmental Investigation Agency); Bex Allen (SRT and CWT); Sue Sayer (SRT) ; Gareth Henson (Angling Trust); Bianca Cisternino (RSPB), Ava Webster (WCL) and Jonny Hughes (Blue Marine Foundation).
Every year, thousands of animals - from seabirds to seals and porpoises to protected sharks and more - are being killed accidentally due to fishing. This is a serious problem for sea life, known as “bycatch”.
Young female grey seal entangled in monofilament fishing net. This has already cut through her skin and into her flesh. This will be painful and lead to intense suffering. As she grows the entanglement will become tighter and dig deeper, eventually leading to her premature death.
Bycatch happens because fishing gear often does not discriminate between the fish people are trying to catch and other wildlife in the sea. Nets dragged through the water or along the seafloor sweep up everything in their path. Static nets, that hang like a curtain in the water or like a rug on the seabed, snag seabirds, porpoises, and seals as well as fish.
The Wildlife and Countryside Link coalition is calling for Government action. There are ways to stop bycatch, but progress by the UK Government has been far too slow and unnecessary deaths remain stubbornly high. The UK Government must deliver clear Bycatch Action Plans with quantitative, time-bound bycatch reduction targets.
The event was hosted by Kerry McCarthy MP and supported by the WCL coalition, of which SRT are a proud member. Several WCL members, including SRT, worked in partnership to create the ‘Hidden in the Haul’ Report and to ensure MPs who attended the event were left in no doubt that further government action is urgently needed.
Left to right: Kerry McCarthy with Sue Sayer and Bex Allen
SRT were hugely grateful that three Cornish MPs and one MP representative attended the Drop In Session: Andrew George, Anna Gelderd, Jayne Kirkham and Ben Maguire. SRT has subsequently had further written engagement with all these MPs as well as Perran Moon.
Left to right: Bex Allen, Andrew George (MP St Ives) and Sue Sayer
Left to right: Ben Maguire (MP North Cornwall), Sue Sayer and Bes Allen
Left to right : Sue Sayer and Jayne Kirkham (MP Truro and Falmouth)
In total around 20 cross party MPs and Peers attended the hour long session. Several of these MPs attended the WCL ‘Marine Mammal Legal Protection’ Parliamentary Round Table in January and the Seal Alliance ‘Save our Seals from Flying Rings’ Drop In session later in June. Huge thanks to all these MPs and Peers who took time out of their busy schedules to make it over to see us all and to help us advocate for seals and other marine life.
Neil Hudson (MP Epping Forest) and Tonia Antoniazzi (MP Gower) with Sue Sayer
A highlight of the event for all attendees was the arrival of Minister Emma Hardy. Emma was fascinated and saddened to hear about the plight of grey seal Lucky bunting and her post rescue story. She was shocked to hear about an unreported bycatch incident and pledged to write to the Marine Management Organisation to find out what action had actually been taken about this offence and breach of the law.
Left to right: Jonny Hughes, Sue Sayer and Emma Hardy
Emma Hardy clutching the trawl net that Sue cut from Lucky bunting’s neck during a rescue led by British Divers Marine Life Rescue.
Sue Sayer MBE said ‘I am so proud that Cornish Marine Life was so well represented by our MPs. It was wonderful to see them all in person, many for the first time, and to have the opportunity to share the visible end of bycatch – live seal entanglement and the horrendous suffering that results. A few lucky entangled seals get rescued by British Divers Marine Life Rescue and rehabilitated by the Cornish Seal Sanctuary or the RSPCA at West Hatch. Being able to show and tell their stories pre and post rescue (and the fishing gear removed from the seals) really brings the issue alive for others to see the reality of bycatch for marine life and the suffering it causes.’ In 2025, there were 138 different entangled seals photo identified in Cornwall (95 still entangled and 43 ex entangled) in that one year alone. And this is just the visible end of bycatch. Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Marine Strandings Network and the Cornwall Marine Pathology Team data from dead seals and dolphins stranded around Cornish shores shows that 40% of all the Common dolphins and 17-19% of all the adult seals post mortemed had died with bycatch as a contributing cause of death. This simply cannot continue!’
Please click here to download the ‘hidden in the Haul’ report from WCL’s website https://wcl.org.uk/hidden-in-the-haul.asp to read all the headline recommendations for government to take much more effective action on this urgent issue..
