The Bycatch Concern

THE BYCATCH CONCERN Many fishermen catch fish other than the ones that they target - in many cases, these fish are simply thrown dead or dying back into the sea... THIS IS KNOWN AS BYCATCH. THE PROBLEM? "The single biggest threat facing cetaceans worldwide is death as bycatch in fishing gear." - World Wildlife Fund Each year, more whales, dolphins, porpoises die from entanglement in fishing gear than from any other cause. Researchers at Duke University + University of St. Andrews estimate: 85% 308,000 bycatch-related deaths per year nearly 1,000 per day More than 85% of the world's fisheries have been pushed to or beyond their biological limits. The annual average of discarded fish is estimated to be 7.3 million tons. Collateral losses, known as discards, can reach up to 80% or even 90% of the total catch. - FAO Fishing gear that poses the biggest dangers include: gillnets , set nets, trammel nets, seines, trawling nets, longlines BYCATCH MORTALITIES "Different types of fishing practices result in different animal/species being killed as bycatch. Nets kill dolphins, porpoises and whales, longline fishing kills birds, and bottom trawling devastatės marine ecosystems.' - Greenpeace 100 million sharks and approximately 300,000 cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) die from bycatch, éach year rays are caught and discarded each year large whales may break free, but can suffer long-term, debilitating injuries resulting in slow deaths 27% of total discards trawl fisheries for shrimp and demersal finfish account for over 50% of total estimated discards 50% tropical shrimp trawl fisheries have the highest discard rate account for over 27% of total discards PREVENTION On a global level, there are effective ways to address the problems of bycatch: control fishing efforts discontinue use of damaging fishing methods DO YOUR ECO-FRIENDLY PART AND SHARE THIS INFOGRAPHIC! Brought to you by: DistanceLearning .com sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bycatch http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/bycatch/ http://wwf.panda.org/about our_earth/blue_planet/problems/próblems_fishing/fisheries_management/bycatch222/ http://cetaceanbycatch.org/status.cfm http://worldwildlife.org/industries/wild-caught-seafood http://www.fao.org/fishery/topic/14832/en http://www.slowfood.com/slowfish/pagine/eng/pagina.lasso?-id_pg=43