Ending the Squander of Our Seas
Every year, millions of tons of fish are accidentally caught and discarded. A staggering 100 million sharks are considered such "by catch" each year, often the result of net entanglement. Bycatch not only affects marine ecosystems but also the millions of people who rely on healthy fish stocks for food and employment.
Created 7 months ago by Green Voice
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According to the latest estimates of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation 7.3 million tonnes of bycatch are discarded annually by the worlds fisheries.
Most fisheries are unselective to some degree, in that they incidentally catch other species along with their target catch during the process of fishing. This non-target catch is known as "bycatch".
Bycatch species tend to be associated with certain fisheries (for example sea turtles with tropical shrimp trawl fisheries). Nevertheless bycatch, in terms of diversity of species caught and ratios of bycatch to target catch, can vary significantly over the geographic region and over time.
Bycatch reflects variations in marine communities, types of fishing methods used, and changes in the target catch of fisheries. For example, in some parts of Asia, former shrimp trawl fisheries have become "multi-species" fisheries where a much greater proportion of the catch is used.
In some cases bycatch is predictable and straightforward to control, and is therefore easier to avoid. In other cases, bycatch is unpredictable and very difficult for fishermen to control. In the latter, bycatch reduction is harder to achieve.
Bycatch also varies according to its impacts. These are not always immediately evident. For example, even a low rate of bycatch can have an ecological impact if fishing effort is high and bycatch species are vulnerable to over-fishing, for example if they are species that are long-lived and slow to reproduce, such as sharks and marine turtles.
A significant proportion of the world's bycatch is discarded back into the ocean.
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Why International Plan of Action on bycatch reduction?
Many research institutions, NGOs, inter-governmental organisations and Governments around the world are doing important work to reduce bycatch.Some focus on the incidental capture of endangered/vulnerable species, others address the food security issues linked to high bycatch levels in the developing world. Others still work to mitigate the impacts of bycatch on the commercial fishi...
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Created by Green Voice, Last updated 7 months ago,
Why bycatch occurs and its impacts
The existence of high levels of bycatch in today's fisheries is, in part, a reflection of how the oceans' resources are harvested. Fisheries typically target one single species, often towards the top end of the marine food chain.Aside from the ecological impacts of removing these generally large "piscivorous" (fish-eating) target species, the fishing methods employed often...
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Created by Green Voice, Last updated 7 months ago,
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The end of the line
I read a good book called the End of the line which nails the topic and the compelity of the issue .
its worth readingPosted 4 months ago by martin armstrong and has 0 replies
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