BYCATCH

Although you might want to eat a sea bass fillet or a tuna steak, there is a realistic chance that the fishermen who caught that fish, also caught many other fish they didn’t want. These non-targeted species are called bycatch.

Longline tuna fishing catches unimaginable numbers of sharks as well as dolphins and seabirds, while trawl nets destroy entire ecosystems taking anything that can’t escape and flattening the ocean floor to rubble.

Scientist don’t know how many individuals there are in the ocean for many of these bycatch species. If we can’t calculate the number of silky sharks for example, how are we supposed to know if their populations are increasing or decreasing. While scientists are trying to calculate this so called ‘stock assessment’ fisherman worldwide are returning to ports with hundreds of these dead animals.

Even protection under national and international laws cannot prevent non-targeted species being caught. Fishermen still net these species, they are just not allowed to bring them to port and they are therefore thrown, dead or alive, over the side.