Headless sharks, net thieves and midnight meetings: Welcome to Wirral’s angling wars

Hundreds of dead fish are washing up on beaches - why?

​​Dear readers — you may have seen it in the papers or on your Facebook feeds: Dead sharks discovered by dog walkers on Wirral beaches and fish tangled up in nets on Moreton shore. In today’s story, Abi tries to get to the bottom of exactly why local marine life is washing up dead, and if gillnets are truly to blame. We do not usually report on the world of fishing because it is not normally thrilling stuff. Today marks a departure from that theory.

But first, a ruling on the death of Nicola Bulley following an inquiry and why can’t Liverpool’s business scene attract investment?

---

Your Post briefing

The death of Nicola Bulley — the 45-year-old woman from Lancashire who fell into the River Wyre, provoking a multi-day and highly publicised search — has been ruled an accident. A coroner’s inquest found that, despite ongoing speculation and theorising online, Bulley did not have “any desire” to die. As The Guardian reports, the reaction to Bulley’s death was called “a carnival of hysteria” after “a procession of amateur detectives, influencers and psychics descended on the sleepy village of St Michael’s on Wyre in Lancashire”. Experts told the hearing that entering cold water can cause a person to inhale water and drown in seconds, which the coroner ruled had caused her death. Bulley’s family are said to still be receiving social media messages demanding answers and further speculating, according to their lawyer. 

Colin Sinclair, one of the most respected figures in Liverpool’s local business sector, has openly criticised the city’s ability to attract investment. After Liverpool Business News, a local business website, posted concerning statistics outlining how Liverpool “still lags on foreign direct investment” (a topic we covered in depth last year — with Sinclair’s input), he replied: “You get out of inward investment what you put into it. All 10 [Greater Manchester] Authorities have contributed significantly and equally over the years to fund MIDAS, whilst accepting a private sector chair and expertise on its Board. You don’t land the likes of Amazon, BoNY and JP Morgan by accident.” Sinclair is the former CEO of MIDAS — Manchester’s highly successful inward investment agency — and now runs Sciontec, who have been responsible from bringing several big firms into the Knowledge Quarter. His input speaks to widespread concerns about an ability to create well-paying jobs for local graduates. The LBN article reports that in 2022, Liverpool saw a meagre seven foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the city. Manchester saw 45.

Thousands of Muslims around Liverpool gathered in Sefton Park to celebrate Eid-al-Adha, the religion’s largest festival. Known as the ‘Feast of Sacrifice’, Eid usually lasts for four days and honours the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice one of his sons, as an act of obedience to God's command. The open air experience — rather than individuals attending their local mosque — makes the festival extra special: “We did Eid in the park and it's such an incredible experience,” attendee Fatima Ali said. Watch a video of the celebrations on the BBC.

---

By Abi Whistance

Picture this. It’s just past midnight and against all logic, you’re not tucked up in bed or at a bar with friends, but standing on the edge of a beach, scissors in hand. You’re inconspicuous in a black jumper, hood up to shield your face from any late night passersby. Scanning the ground, you look for fish nets placed in the sea the day before. On finding one, you slash it, and make your escape. That’s right — you’re a fishing vigilante. It’s fair to speculate you wouldn’t be the only one. 

We now live in a world where fishing vigilantes might well be required — over the past year reports have trickled in of dead fish, sharks and porpoises washing up on beaches across Merseyside. Just six weeks ago, one local fisherman, Mick Preston, discovered 25 dead smooth-hound sharks scattered on a beach near his home in Meols. The sheer quantity of marine life washing up dead has sparked online discussion about the possible cause, with some arguing gillnetting (a type of fishing that uses nets laid along the seabed to catch prey) has caused the deaths.

Mick Preston on Meols beach. Photo: Abi Whistance/The Post

This leads where pretty much any story surrounding a public issue leads in the age of social media: Facebook groups. Which is to say, locals across the Wirral have set up groups to sound the alarm on gillnets, surreptitiously taking photos of suspected netters in car parks and on beaches. Some have even created their own factions within these groups, setting up midnight missions to track down gillnets and destroy them, all in the name of saving marine life. 

This all seems incredibly heroic, and while I’ve no desire to swim with sharks, I don’t want them to perish in their tens on the beaches of the Wirral, either. But I wanted to check the claims going viral — are the theories on Facebook groups about these deaths true? And for that matter, are these compact nets really to blame for dead sharks and porpoises? I decide to head across the water to meet Mick and see for myself.