It took Italian coast guard divers several hours to free five sperm whales—among them a calf who was completely entangled—from a fishing net in the Mediterranean Ocean last August 9 and 10. When all of the animals were finally cut free, they were covered with lesions, and it was a miracle that all of them survived the entrapment.

The net in question was a driftnet, and the incident, which took place about 70 miles off Italy's Amalfi Coast, was one of a number of disturbing observations described in the report of a joint monitoring project by Humane Society International, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the DELPHIS cetacean group last summer. Although driftnets—massive, monofilament plastic nets—have been banned by the European Union, DELPHIS observers found evidence of Italy's illegal driftnet fishing in the Mediterranean over a 67-day period in 2004, and documented numerous infractions of EU law by Italian fisheries.

Driftnets are not a new technique. They date back centuries, when fishermen floated small nets on the water to catch schools of fish swimming by. But starting in the 1970s these nets grew to staggering sizes, many spanning as much as 10-30 miles in length. Designed to surround anything that swims into them—and make it impossible to escape—the nets fail to discriminate between the fish being sought and all other marine life.

Air-breathing dolphins, whales and turtles are often the nets' unintended victims, along with juvenile fish and "bycatch"—other species of fish that may be in demand by consumers but which are not the intended targets of driftnet fisheries. An estimated 85% of animals caught in driftnets are thrown back into the sea, making the method highly unsustainable.

What's more, the nets are sometimes lost or cut loose to avoid detection by authorities. Left unattended, these "ghost nets" can float for weeks or months until they finally sink to the ocean floor, weighted down with tons of sea life.

For nearly a decade, Humane Society International's European office has been working to put an end to driftnetting, a practice that leaves massive destruction in its wake by fisheries seeking swordfish and a small number of tuna. Although it is now illegal in Europe, the practice of driftnetting still regularly threatens marine life in the Mediterranean. And in the case of Italy, the practice continues essentially abetted by the government, which passed a series of regulations to permit Italian fisheries to use driftnets even after the EU banned them.

Banned but Not Forgotten

In a unanimous General Assembly resolution in 1989, the United Nations called for the elimination of all high seas driftnetting by 1992, calling it "a highly indiscriminate and wasteful fishing method." At the time, many governments ignored the UN's prescription; driftnet fishing brought in profitable hauls of fish that also made consumers happy. But it was a false bounty—with such a high percentage of bycatch it also meant the depletion of non-targeted fish and other species.

By the 1990s, the EU could no longer ignore growing evidence that fish stocks and marine mammals were dying in driftnets in staggering numbers. After years of mounting regulation of the industry, the EU finally voted in 1998 to phase out the use of all pelagic driftnets by December 31, 2001. It was a bitter decision for driftnetting countries such as Italy and France, whose fisheries were reluctant to give up the method. Nonetheless, Italy moved ahead on buyout and conversion plans to aid driftnet fleets in complying with the new EU law. Those plans offered compensation to fisheries who agreed to convert to other methods, such as trawling or purse seine fishing.

Lack of enforcement, however, made it possible for driftnets to remain in use. With no record of the number of driftnets owned by Italian fisheries before the EU ban, it was unclear that all of those nets had been turned over by fisheries accepting the conversion deal. And the Italian government itself contributed to the reintroduction of driftnetting by issuing two decrees in 2003 to permit fisheries to utilize smaller net sizes that were affixed at certain points as anchored nets. In April 2005, Italy increased the permissible net size from two to five kilometers—about three miles—in length.

The new laws delighted Italian fisheries but have enraged conservationists, who view them as a return to the use of full-scale driftnets by simply affixing them to posts.

"The nets are bigger than ever," says Betsy Dribben, chief European representative of HSI. "Italy has a very casual approach to the whole situation, and claims that the driftnetting isn't all that important. But clearly the EU feels it is of top priority, and there will be repercussions if illegal driftnetting continues."

Still in Use

Italy's legal dodge, coupled with the country's inadequate enforcement of EU law, means that observers who took part in the 2004 project were easily able to document continued driftnet fishing in the Mediterranean. Among the information revealed by the monitoring project:

• There was clear evidence of marine mammal entanglement. In addition to the five trapped sperm whales, DELPHIS observers discovered another large sperm whale dead in the Mediterranean with striation marks across its body—an indication that it had been caught in a driftnet.

• Fifteen Italian vessels in one harbor were using driftnets to target swordfish and other prohibited species.

• Of the 20 vessels documented that were engaged in illegal driftnetting, five Italian vessels had registration numbers the same as those that had accepted the EU conversion buyout funds prior to the EU ban on driftnetting.

• Observers documented vessels with "false panels" constructed along vessel sides to hide driftnets until the boats were out from shore. They also saw buoys strategically placed along the vessels' sides to obscure the identification numbers of boats.

• Driftnet lengths have increased significantly from previous years with illegal nets ranging from 12 to 27 miles long, with the largest (probably several nets strung together) being 84 kilometers—about 50 miles—in length.

Findings Submitted to EU

In March, HSI, DELPHIS and the RSPCA turned over their findings to the EU, prompting EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg to note that he intends to take action against Italy for the violations identified in the monitoring project.

There is also concern that some Italian fisheries are getting around the EU ban by moving their operations to non-EU countries where they have established fishery cooperatives. France, whose fisheries once deployed 13,800 miles of driftnets in the northeast Atlantic, killing an estimated 1,700 dolphins and 83,000 blue sharks in one season, may also be developing a new style of driftnet fishing to dodge the regulation. There have also been reports that Morocco, a non-EU member, is using driftnets in the Mediterranean area with an accompanying high loss of marine mammal life.

But the stakes could be growing higher for countries that allow fisheries to flout the ban on driftnetting. The United States' High Seas Driftnet Fisheries Enforcement Act of 1992 stipulates that if the U.S. government has reason to believe illegal driftnetting is taking place, it must begin negotiations with the offending country to have it stop such fishing. A failure to end illegal driftnetting under that law could ultimately result in the loss of port privileges and the potential for embargoes of fish and fish products. The U.S. State Department has already been in touch with Italy about its obligations to the EU, as well as the requirements of the U.S. law.

To read the report, "Driftnets and Loopholes: The Continued Use of Driftnets by the Italian Fleet," in its entirety, download the PDF.

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