Porp's popping up!

Image Michael Rich

Whilst watching seabirds from Telpyn Point, Carmarthenshire today I noted at least 4 Harbour Porpoises. This is the first time I have seen them from here. Derek Moore

A quick look at Strumble yesterday revealed a group of at least half a dozen porpoises riding the head of the tide, slashing and splashing. The Scallop Dredgers seem to be back in force again, trashing the seabed for miles around. I suspect that the disturbance will attract our porpoises for the easy pickings, it will be interesting to see if the fall in sightings we experienced in 2008/9 will be repeated. The scallopers are supposed to stay at least a mile off the coast and outside of any of the Marine SAC's but with no one to stop them during the hours of darkness (or most of the rest of the time) it will be down to the scallopers honesty... In several other better regulated scallop fisheries, dredging is banned during weekends and the hours of darkness which at least gives the fisheries protection vessels a chance to keep an eye on them.

So on the one hand we have the British and Welsh Assembley governments crowing about marine protection and at the same time the greater majority of Cardigan Bay even including some of the Cardigan Bay Marine Special Area of Conservation getting trashed again over the next six months.