Hundreds of dead sharks and fish wash up on two beaches in Wales

Local conservationist says a fishing boat hoping for a more commercial catch may have thrown them overboard

Hundreds of dead sharks and fish believed to be part of a discarded catch have washed up on two Welsh beaches.

Dogwalkers found a full net of dogfish, also known as catshark, on Carmarthenshire’s Cefn Sidan on Saturday. The discovery came after hundreds more dead sharks and fish had been found on Saundersfoot beach in neighbouring Pembrokeshire a few days earlier.

Cliff Benson, a local conservationist and founder of the Sea Trust Wales charity, told the Western Telegraph that smaller-scale incidents were not uncommon in the area.

“We quite often see dogfish or catsharks seemingly intent on suicide and beaching themselves, though nobody seems to know why,” he said.

“However, this is on a different scale and looks like they might have been caught by some fishing boat that was hoping to catch more commercial species and thrown overboard dead.

“Another possibility is it’s a case of some marine pollution event, but you would expect several species to fall victim, not just dogfish.”

The World Wildlife Fund describes “ghost nets” as abandoned, lost or discarded fishing nets that trapp and kill marine life.

A single abandoned net is estimated to kill an average of 500,000 marine invertebrates, 1,700 fish and four seabirds. The Ocean Conservancy calls such nets the single most harmful form of marine debris . As many as a million tonnes of ghost gear is thought to enter the earth’s oceans each year.

Last week’s finds are not the only dead sharks to have washed up on Welsh beaches recently. A few dozen dogfish were found on Prestatyn beach in 2023, and hundreds more on Cold Knap beach in Barry in 2021, some still with hooks and tackle attached to them.

Dozens of dogfish also washed up at Burry Port in 2019. A fisheries scientist said at the time the find was probably the result of bottom trawling.