Initial Publication Date: August 12, 2008

Are You Going to Eat That?

Part A: Irresponsible Fishing Practices

Several types of irresponsible fishing practices contribute to the threat against sustainable seafood. In order to meet consumer demands, the fishing industry sometimes uses techniques that are harmful to fisheries and marine ecosystems. However, conscientious seafood consumers can help to change this. Slight changes in seafood purchasing habits can make an enormous impact on the effort to curb losses in marine biodiversity and to increase seafood sustainability.

Fishing Gear & Methods

1. To learn about fishing methods currently in use by commercial fisheries, visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium's website on Fishing & Farming Methods. Read the Fishing Methods section to learn more about some different ways fish and seafood are trapped and caught.

2. To get a sense of how the methods of fishing have changed over time, visit the Sea Around Us site and examine the graph of Catches by Gear in the Global Ocean from 1950 to 2014. Move your cursor over the graph to view the yearly values of metric tons of fish caught by various types of gear.

Checking In

Answer the following questions about the information provided in the Catches by Gear graph.

What methods of fishing caught the most and least tons of fish in 1950?
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- most popular: small scale fishing — 10,094.34 metric tons
- least popular: longline fishing — 982.52 metric tons
How many years did it take before small scale fishing was not consistently the catching the most fish after 1950?
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- about 10 years — in 1960 bottom trawling began catching more fish than small scale fishing

Bycatch

When fishermen catch fish and other animals they do not want, can't sell, or aren't allowed to keep, we call this bycatch. This contributes to overfishing.

3. Watch this video to learn more about bycatch:

from PEW. What is Bycatch

Reducing Bycatch

There are many ways that different types of fishing and gear can increase the chances of bycatch, but there are also ways that both can be adapted to reduce bycatch.

4. Use the following videos and readings to learn about several methods in use or being developed:

TEDs

Turtle Excluder Devices

Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs)

Selective Nets

Selective Trawl Net from NOAA

Adaptations to avoid Seabird Bycatch

Saving Albatrosses from Birdlife International

Simple Fixes to Gear to Save Seabirds from Becoming Bycatch

Checking In

How does a TED device trawl net operate similarly to the separator device for the groundfish trawl net to ensure the turtles or cod aren't captured? How do the trawl net devices operate differently?
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- Both the TED and the groundfish separator devices have escape holes large enough for the turtles or cod to get free, meaning some other fish species may get through as well. The difference is that a TED device uses a grid of bars in the neck of the trawl to stop a turtle from being caught and push it to the escape hole, while the separator device operates using the cod's natural tendency to swim lower in the net in order to gain access to the escape holes.
What are some of the recommended changes to protect sea birds?
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- adding colorful streamers to fishing lines and cables
- weighting hook lines so bait sinks faster
- setting hooks or nets at night
- increasing visibility of gillnets

IUU - Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated Fishing

Although not much in the news, IUU is a global problem.

5. Read NOAA's page on Understanding Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing.

There are many ways that fisheries and law-enforcement around the world have tried to crack down on illegal fishing.

6. Read about this new one involving the use of Albatross Wearing Data Trackers.

Checking In

Why are developing countries considered the most affected by IUU?
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- Developing countries depend on fisheries where IUU is occurring for food security and export income.
- Crew members on many IUU fishing vessels are from developing countries and are often working in unsafe conditions.

What makes albatrosses good birds for tracking fishing vessels?

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