Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Bycatch & Sustainable Fishing


Lately there has been an increasing demand on fish and other seafood products in the market. But as study shows there has been a huge downfall on the fishing industries. There haven’t been enough sources for fish since the fish population decreased big time. Since the downfall on the fish population many other species that aren’t meant to be caught are also trapped with the other fish. Dolphins, Whales, turtles and such are also caught in the trap accidentally. This is called bycatch, marine creatures are caught accidentally.
           




The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) together with Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council(ASC) will help the fishing industries avoid the bycatch. The MSC had put up standards to the fishing industries in order to obtain their sustainable fishing label for their products. A couple of fishing suggestions that the WWF have put up for low bycatch level are Fish traps  and Jigging .  These are some sustainable fishing techniques were you keep the ones you need and release the other species alive. The WWF also want the fishing industries to avoid getting small fish, marine mammals (turtles, seabirds, etc.), and many more.

           


Each year there are over 30 million metric tons of dead fish caught through bycatch. That is about 25% of all the fish in the world. With sustainable fishing we can reduce this number and also avoid putting species endangered or even extinct. The World Wildlife Fund together with Aquaculture Stewardship Council and Marine Stewardship Council are there to find more new ways for sustainable fishing and also to decrease our negative impact on the waters.

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