Bycatch refers to the unwanted sea life people catch when they’re fishing for something else.
Bycatch wastes 7 million metric tonnes of sea life every year. The vast majority of bycatch—already dead when it hits the deck— is just discarded. Killing hundreds of thousands of juvenile fish not big enough for legal take can undermine the entire fishery.
Bycatch is heavy when boats use destructive fishing gear such as massive trawl nets that scrape the bottom of the ocean and capture virtually everything in their path. The 1.4 billion baited hooks set in longline fisheries every year kill a great deal of non-target animals including sea turtles, sharks, birds, and marine mammals.
Blue Ocean Institute’s Seafood Choices Guide’s methodology for assessing wild-caught seafood uses bycatch as one of its five core criteria. And for years Blue Ocean has worked with scientists, regulators, fishing industry leaders, and conservationists to reduce the unintended catch of marine life. We promote effective, practical solutions for the benefit and balance of ocean ecosystems. New fishing methods or low-cost equipment changes can help animal populations recover.
Bycatch is a serious challenge to healthy fisheries worldwide but by choosing fish from low-bycatch fisheries, consumers can be part of the solution.
3 things you can do to fight bycatch:
1. Eat sustainably caught seafood
2. Support the use of fishing gear that avoids bycatch
3. Know the issues
Other ways to you can make a difference.
LINKS & VIDEOS
Discards in the World’s Marine Fisheries, FAO Fisheries
What is Bycatch?, NOAA Fisheries Service
Global Assessment of Fisheries Bycatch and Discards, FAO Fisheries
Eye of the Albatross, Carl Safina
NOAA Releases First National Bycatch Report, NOAA
Impacts of Bottom Trawling on Fisheries, Tourism, and the Marine Environment, Oceana
Millions of Sea Turtles Killed Due to Bycatch, Discovery
Millions of already endangered turtles are accidentally killed each year as a result of global fisheries.
The Truth About Bycatch, Greenpeace
Many sea creatures are the helpless victims of bycatch. They are caught in fishery operations and are usually tossed overboard either already dead or severely injured.
Bycatch Management and Discard Reduction
A film by the Global Environment Facility funded, UN Development Programme implemented, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations executed project,