tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/bycatch-42366/articlesBycatch – The Conversation2024-03-27T01:14:51Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2265132024-03-27T01:14:51Z2024-03-27T01:14:51ZThese extraordinary Australian islands are teeming with life – and we must protect them before it’s too late<p>In the Southern Ocean about 4,000 kilometres from Perth lies a truly extraordinary place. Known as the Heard Island and McDonald islands, they are among the most remote places on Earth: a haven for marine life amid the vast ocean, virtually undisturbed by human pressures.</p>
<p>But as our <a href="https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/understanding-the-marine-ecosystems-surrounding-heard-island-and-">report</a> released today reveals, this special place in Australia’s territory is at risk. In particular, climate change is warming the waters around the islands, threatening a host of marine life.</p>
<p>More than 20 years ago, a marine reserve was declared over the islands and parts of the surrounding waters. At the time, it was a significant step forward in environmental protection. But since then, science has progressed and the threats have worsened. </p>
<p>Our report reviewed these protections and found they are no longer adequate. The marine reserve surrounding the Heard and McDonald islands must urgently be expanded. </p>
<h2>Spotlight on the reserve system</h2>
<p>The Heard and McDonald islands are just a tiny tip of the Kerguelen Plateau – a huge underwater mass rising high above the surrounding ocean basins. </p>
<p>The plateau intercepts the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the strongest current system in the world. When the current hits the plateau, deep, nutrient-rich waters are pushed to the surface. This supports a food chain ranging from tiny plankton to fish, invertebrates, seabirds and marine mammals such as elephant seals and sperm whales.</p>
<p>On Heard Island, Mawson’s Peak is officially Australia’s highest mountain. It is 2,745 metres high and forms the summit of an active volcano known as Big Ben. Heard Island and McDonald Islands also host valuable fisheries for Patagonian toothfish and mackerel icefish.</p>
<p>The marine reserve around the islands was declared in 2002 and extended in 2014. It now covers 17% of what is known as the “exclusive economic zone” – the area of the sea in which a nation (in this case, Australia) has exclusive rights to resources such as fish and minerals.</p>
<p>The original reserve was primarily designed for waters shallower than 1,000m, because in 2002 little was known about the area’s deeper waters. A review of the reserve system is due this year.</p>
<p>Our report draws on more than 20 years’ of research conducted since the reserve was first declared. It highlights new scientific understanding of the region and the need to expand its protection.</p>
<p><iframe id="oSiut" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/oSiut/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Climate pressures on the plateau</h2>
<p>Climate change poses wicked threats for the Heard and McDonald islands and surrounding marine environment. </p>
<p>We found the shelf area is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20781-1">becoming warmer</a>. This potentially threatens species adapted to cold polar waters, such as the mackerel icefish. This species lives in shallow water and is an important food source for fur seals and other predators. </p>
<p>No other sub-antarctic shelf exists to the south of Heard Island, which means the region is a vital animal habitat. Maintaining the islands’ biodiversity in the face of climate change is best achieved by extending the existing marine reserve to cover more shallow waters, as well as protecting currently unprotected deeper waters.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-only-active-volcanoes-and-a-very-expensive-fish-the-secrets-of-the-kerguelen-plateau-123351">Australia's only active volcanoes and a very expensive fish: the secrets of the Kerguelen Plateau</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Protecting deep-water species</h2>
<p>The Patagonian toothfish is a top predator species that connects different parts of the food web. Commercial fishing in the islands’ economic zone targets toothfish using “<a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/bycatch/fishing-gear-bottom-longlines">bottom longlines</a>” which are weighted to the seafloor at depths down to 2,000m. The footprint of fishing operations has expanded over the past 30 years.</p>
<p>Our report suggests protecting <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380016303325">spawning grounds</a> of toothfish will reduce risks to this species and help ensure the fishery does not deplete fish stock.</p>
<p>Fishing is managed in such a way to eliminate the accidental catching (or by-catch) of seabirds. But there is still significant by-catch of a number of non-target fish species, especially skates. </p>
<p>Keeping fishing out of some areas can reduce pressure on vulnerable species. Important areas for achieving this are in the deeper waters to the southeast of Heard Island. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-risk-index-shows-threats-to-90-per-cent-of-the-worlds-marine-species-190221">Climate risk index shows threats to 90 per cent of the world's marine species</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Sustaining biodiversity into the future</h2>
<p>Our analysis reveals an updated understanding of the marine ecosystems surrounding Heard and McDonald islands.</p>
<p>Scientists now know more about where <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1470160X16302977">marine mammals and birds forage</a> – particularly in the important period when parents are feeding their young. We found some species that breed on Heard Island, including king penguins and fur seals, rely on areas not protected by the marine reserve during these times.</p>
<p>Our analysis also reveals a complex mosaic of productive habitats in shallow water, and less productive habitats in deeper water. This in turn affects the distribution of animal species.</p>
<p>Increased protection for the areas in the west, south, and southeast of the economic zone will be needed to protect animals in these habitats.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Increased protections are needed to protect biodiversity in the region." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298059/original/file-20191022-28092-12ocbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298059/original/file-20191022-28092-12ocbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298059/original/file-20191022-28092-12ocbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298059/original/file-20191022-28092-12ocbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298059/original/file-20191022-28092-12ocbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298059/original/file-20191022-28092-12ocbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298059/original/file-20191022-28092-12ocbi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bird activity behind a research vessel near the Kerguelen Plateau.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Tixier</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>The current marine reserve covering Heard and McDonald islands is not sufficient. It should cover deeper water ecosystems and provide protection for foraging areas of resident seals, penguins and albatross. </p>
<p>Protecting spawning grounds of toothfish and areas important to cold-adapted species, such as mackerel icefish, will help ensure these species have the best chance against continuing warming of the ocean. </p>
<p>Extending the protections would help Australia meet its domestic policy and international agreements. For example, the federal government has committed to protecting <a href="https://theconversation.com/weve-committed-to-protect-30-of-australias-land-by-2030-heres-how-we-could-actually-do-it-217795">at least 30%</a> of ocean ecosystems by 2030.</p>
<p>It would also ensure our marine protected areas are <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/marinereservesreview/resources/representative-system">nationally representative</a> – a key national objective Australia has committed to.</p>
<p>By extending adequate protection of Heard and McDonald islands, Australia has the chance to show global leadership in conserving this precious natural asset in the Southern Ocean.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The report underpinning this article was part-funded by Pew Charitable Trusts and the Australian Marine Conservation Society.</span></em></p>A new report has found the marine reserve covering the Heard and McDonald islands must urgently be expanded.Ian Cresswell, Adjunct professor, The University of Western AustraliaAndrew J Constable, Adviser, Antarctica and Marine Systems, Science & Policy, University of TasmaniaKeith Reid, Honorary Research Associate, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2250722024-03-19T14:07:41Z2024-03-19T14:07:41ZGreen lights on fishing nets could slash bycatch of sea turtles, says research<p><a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2010.00105.x">Bycatch in fishing gear</a> is one of the <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/initiatives/protecting-turtles-from-the-threat-of-bycatch#:%7E:text=The%20single%20greatest%20threat%20to,and%20leatherbacks%20are%20especially%20vulnerable.">biggest threats</a> to sea turtles. But these creatures are particularly sensitive to <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdfExtended/S0960-9822(21)01737-1">green light</a> so they’re less likely to get caught up in fishing nets fitted with green LED lights. </p>
<p>Since 2014, a team of marine biologists and I have been trialling ways to reduce turtle bycatch using lights in nets as a deterrent. Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165783623003120#:%7E:text=Recently%2C%20net%20illumination%20has%20also,vulnerable%20species%20in%20set%20nets">recent study</a> shows that these lights can reduce bycatch by approximately 40%.</p>
<p>The adult <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/green-turtle">green turtles</a> I work with in Cyprus are over a metre long and weigh more than 100kg. The females nest and lay their eggs on Alagadi beach, <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/fascinating-facts/marine-turtles#:%7E:text=It%27s%20survival%20of%20the%20fittest,from%20predators%20to%20marine%20plastics.">but only one in a thousand</a> of their tiny hatchlings will survive to adulthood decades later. </p>
<p>Once they have left their nesting beach, young green turtles often wash up dead. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.12440">Thousands of turtles</a> are <a href="https://www.togetherforthemed.org/our-actions/cyprus-bycatch-7.html">killed annually</a> due to the activities of the Turkish Cypriot fleet alone. </p>
<p>With fish stocks in decline, fishers are using more nets to catch more fish – making bycatch more likely. That effectively negates any conservation efforts to help protect the young green turtles that feed on the coastal seagrass beds. </p>
<p>In this part of the Mediterranean Sea, fishers leave kilometres of net on the seabed overnight in these seagrass habitats. When they haul them in the morning they often find drowned turtles entangled. </p>
<p>But quantifying bycatch is not easy, especially in Cyprus, where hundreds of small fishing boats use different types of fishing gear. It’s even harder to identify the most dangerous fishing methods and prioritise possible solutions. </p>
<p>Together with local fishers and marine authorities, we have monitored impacts on marine life by deploying onboard observers and having fishers report their catches of dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, rays and monk seals.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.lindgren-pitman.com/products/lp-electralume-light-w-lithium-battery-add-videos">first lights</a> we trialled were effective, and Cypriot fishers corroborated the positive results from <a href="https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v408/p241-250/">trials in Mexico</a>. But they found these prototypes difficult to use, with moving metal parts that got tangled in the “set nets”. </p>
<p>These long panels of net which fishers deploy on the seabed are stored in buckets. Due to tangling, the lights needed to be attached and removed on every fishing trip.</p>
<p>They’d often stop working and were not specifically designed for these set nets. At US$40 (£30) per light, the cost of fitting 3km of net is US$12,000. That’s way more than the annual cost of replacing nets that have been cut to release turtles that have got caught.</p>
<p>To make this concept more feasible, we teamed up with Devon-based marine engineering company <a href="https://www.fishtekmarine.com/reduce-turtle-bycatch/">FishTek</a> in 2018 to develop a scalable solution. After years of trials, we developed a more efficient solution known as <a href="https://www.fishtekmarine.com/reduce-turtle-bycatch/">NetLights</a>, which costs just US$8 per light. </p>
<h2>Net illumination</h2>
<p>These battery-powered lights that can be easily attached to huge fishing nets reduce bycatch of turtles <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165783623003120#:%7E:text=Recently%2C%20net%20illumination%20has%20also,vulnerable%20species%20in%20set%20nets">by around 40%</a>. But more trials are needed. </p>
<p>Because the green turtles living around the Cyprus coast keep dying, there aren’t that many of them, so catch rates remain low. Over time, more trials will provide more accurate results. </p>
<p>Thousands of NetLights have been made available to 50 fishers in Cyprus as part of a broader trial. Most are pleased with the target catch rates and ask for more. They’d be most likely to use them if costs are subsidised or if bycatch reduction tech like this is made a legal requirement to safeguard turtles from particular types of fishing net. </p>
<p>Every fisher uses a slightly different net set up and it’s hard to please them all. Ideally, the lights need to be slightly smaller, lighter and more buoyant so that they can replace the floats that fishers use to stand the nets in the water, without adding more bulk. </p>
<h2>Other solutions</h2>
<p>Aside from training fishers to rescue turtles that get entangled, other existing bycatch reduction methods include <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTuB88KaIpQ">turtle excluder devices</a> that fit inside the neck of trawl nets. While small fish and shrimp can pass between the bars to the back of the net, larger turtles bump against the metal grid and can escape through a flap in the mesh net.</p>
<p>In the US, bottom trawlers catching shrimp have to use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_excluder_device#cite_note-4">turtle excluder devices</a> to provide an escape route for turtles and other large objects. </p>
<p>Circular fishing hooks which replace “J” shaped hooks are less likely to snag turtles. These have been <a href="https://www.seaturtlestatus.org/articles/2019/1/31/the-continuing-tale-of-circle-hooks-in-brazil">rolled out in large-scale commercial tuna and swordfish fleets</a> on the high seas. But their success has been variable and in some cases reduced target catch can make them economically unsustainable. </p>
<p>If not enforced by governments, measures like these may be requested from supermarkets as part of a bycatch audit to <a href="https://oceandisclosureproject.org/">promote best practice</a> within the supply chain.</p>
<p>In 2023, fisheries policy in northern Cyprus was updated to include some no-take zones and restricted areas to protect fish stocks and other vulnerable species. If properly enforced, both the sea turtles and the fish that fishers rely on will benefit from these measures. </p>
<p>By rolling out more NetLights in set net fisheries that are a top priority for bycatch management, and monitoring their effectiveness against the baseline data we now have, there is huge scope to improve the chance of survival for green turtles.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 30,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Snape works at Bluedot Associates UK and has received funding from MAVA Foundation, Lloyd's Register, People's Trust for Endangered Species, Shark Trust, British Chelonia Group and others.</span></em></p>Hi-tech green LED lights attached to fishing gear can act as a deterrent to turtles and help reduce bycatch by approximately 40%.Robin Snape, Associate Researcher, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2246072024-03-06T19:07:52Z2024-03-06T19:07:52ZSharks, turtles and other sea creatures face greater risk from industrial fishing than previously thought − we estimated added pressure from ‘dark’ fishing vessels<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580177/original/file-20240306-22-3smwaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C2977%2C1998&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Seabirds like this sooty shearwater can drown when they become tangled in drift nets and other fishing gear. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/dj3H6v"> Roy Lowe, USFWS/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>My colleagues and I mapped activity in the northeast Pacific of “dark” fishing vessels – boats that turn off their location devices or lose signal for technical reasons. In <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adl5528">our new study</a>, we found that highly mobile marine predators, such as sea lions, sharks and leatherback sea turtles, are significantly <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2019/03/13/tunas-sharks-ships-sea/">more threatened than previously thought</a> because of large numbers of dark fishing vessels operating where these species live. </p>
<p>While we couldn’t directly watch the activities of each of these dark vessels, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/02/at-least-6-percent-global-fishing-likely-as-ships-turn-off-tracking-devices-study">new technological advances</a>, including satellite data and machine learning, make it possible to estimate where they go when they are not broadcasting their locations. </p>
<p>Examining five years of data from fishing vessel location devices and the habitats of 14 large marine species, including seabirds, sharks, turtles, sea lions and tunas, we found that our estimates of risk to these animals increased by nearly 25% when we accounted for the presence of dark vessels. For some individual predators, such as albacore and bluefin tunas, this adjustment increased risk by over 36%. The main hot spots were in the Bering Sea and along the Pacific coast of North America. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bjFSgr_B38I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Bycatch, or accidental take, is the leading threat to some endangered marine species.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How we did our work</h2>
<p>Fishing boats use <a href="https://globalfishingwatch.org/faqs/what-is-ais/">Automatic Identification System</a>, or AIS, to avoid colliding with each other. Their AIS signals bounce off satellites to reach nearby ships. </p>
<p>This data is a valuable tool for <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/study-choosing-fish-may-be-killing-sharks/">mapping risk at sea</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43169824">understanding the footprints of fishing fleets</a>. AIS data captures an estimated <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aao564">50% to 80%</a> of fishing operations occurring more than 100 nautical miles from shore.</p>
<p>But in some areas, vessels’ AIS signals can’t reach the satellites, either because reception is poor or many boats are crowded together – much as cellphones can have difficulty sending text messages in remote wildness or in crowded stadiums. And just as location tracking can be disabled on phones, fishing vessels can intentionally <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-fishing-boats-go-dark-at-sea-theyre-often-committing-crimes-we-mapped-where-it-happens-196694">disable their AIS</a> if they want to hide their location. Boats that do this may be engaged in criminal activities, such as <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538736/the-outlaw-ocean-by-ian-urbina/">illegal fishing or human trafficking</a>.</p>
<p>We calculated how much risk dark vessels pose to marine life by overlapping their activity with the modeled habitats of 14 highly mobile marine predators. Using the same method, we also calculated how much risk observable fishing vessels that broadcast their locations pose to marine life. These two calculations allowed us to understand the additional risk from dark fishing vessels.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579990/original/file-20240305-26-vf2vcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A seal on a beach, with a rope wrapped around it and connected to a large orange float beside the animal." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579990/original/file-20240305-26-vf2vcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579990/original/file-20240305-26-vf2vcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579990/original/file-20240305-26-vf2vcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579990/original/file-20240305-26-vf2vcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579990/original/file-20240305-26-vf2vcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579990/original/file-20240305-26-vf2vcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579990/original/file-20240305-26-vf2vcl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Hawaiian monk seal entangled on a large fishing float.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photolib.noaa.gov/Collections/Fisheries/Other/emodule/1054/eitem/61324">Doug Helton, NOAA/NOS/ORR/ERD</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>We know that many sea creatures, including endangered species, are <a href="https://www.msc.org/en-us/what-we-are-doing/oceans-at-risk/overfishing">killed by overfishing</a>, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-welch-sea-turtles-swordfish-climate-change-20190610-story.html">accidental catch</a> and <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/marine-mammal-protection/west-coast-large-whale-entanglement-response-program">entanglement in fishing gear</a>. More overlap between wildlife and fishing boats means that those harmful impacts are more likely to happen. </p>
<p>Even considering only <a href="https://globalfishingwatch.org/map/index?start=2023-11-25T00%3A00%3A00.000Z&end=2024-02-25T00%3A00%3A00.000Z&latitude=19&longitude=26&zoom=1.5">observable fishing boats broadcasting their positions</a>, the presence of boats signals considerable risk for marine life. For example, <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/california-sea-lion">California sea lions</a> forage in Pacific coastal waters from the Canadian border to Baja California and are accidentally caught by boats fishing for hake and halibut. We found observable fishing activity in over 45% of the sea lions’ habitat. </p>
<p>In another example, migratory <a href="https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=salmonshark.main">salmon sharks</a> feed on salmon near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands during the summer and breed in warmer waters off the coasts of Oregon and California during the winter. Along their journey, salmon sharks are accidentally caught in fishing nets and longlines. We detected observable vessel fishing activity in nearly one-third of salmon shark habitat. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579983/original/file-20240305-28-en5un3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C0%2C5169%2C3461&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dozens of fishing boats move out of an urban harbor" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579983/original/file-20240305-28-en5un3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C0%2C5169%2C3461&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579983/original/file-20240305-28-en5un3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579983/original/file-20240305-28-en5un3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579983/original/file-20240305-28-en5un3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579983/original/file-20240305-28-en5un3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579983/original/file-20240305-28-en5un3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579983/original/file-20240305-28-en5un3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fishing boats head out for the East China Sea in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/fishing-boats-set-sail-in-the-morning-to-east-china-sea-for-news-photo/1340823231">Shen Lei/VCG via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our findings indicate that such threats are higher when dark fishing boats are present. Estimates of risk to California sea lions and salmon sharks increased by 28% and 23%, respectively, when we accounted for dark vessels.</p>
<p>This information could affect fishery regulation. For example, regulators <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/fish-stock-assessment-101-part-2-closer-look-stock-assessment-models">use risk information</a> to set catch limits for species such as tuna; higher risk could mean that catch limits need to be lower. </p>
<p>For species such as sea lions and salmon sharks that are accidentally caught by fishermen, higher risk levels could indicate that fishing boats should use more selective gear. California is currently acting on this issue by helping fishermen phase out use of <a href="https://opc.ca.gov/2022/11/phase-out-drift-gillnets/">large-mesh drift gill nets</a> in state waters. These nets, which hang like curtains in the water, catch <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/T0502E/T0502E01.htm">many other fishes along with the target species</a>. </p>
<p>Accounting for dark vessels is particularly important in international waters where boats from multiple countries operate, because AIS data is one of the most complete sources of fishing activity across nations. Tracking dark vessels can help make this information as comprehensive as possible and provide insights into the multinational impacts of fishing. </p>
<p>Our study does not account for vessels that do not use any vessel tracking system, or that use systems other than AIS. Therefore, our risk calculations likely still underestimate the true impact of fisheries on marine predators. </p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>The world’s oceans are rich in life but poor in data, although this is changing. High-resolution <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/satellite-maps-reveal-rampant-fishing-untracked-dark-vessels-oceans-180983539/">satellite imagery</a> may soon offer even more information on risk from dark vessels. </p>
<p>President Joe Biden and other global leaders have pledged to protect <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/21/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-takes-new-action-to-conserve-and-restore-americas-lands-and-waters/">30% of the ocean by 2030</a>. Better data on human-wildlife interactions at sea can help ensure that new protected areas are in the right places to make a difference.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224607/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Welch receives funding from NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement. </span></em></p>The toll on wildlife from illegal fishing, bycatch and entanglement in fishing gear is likely underestimated, because it doesn’t account for ‘dark’ fishing vessels, a new study finds.Heather Welch, Researcher in Ecosystem Dynamics, University of California, Santa CruzLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2229862024-02-12T19:10:59Z2024-02-12T19:10:59ZThe world’s spectacular animal migrations are dwindling. Fishing, fences and development are fast-tracking extinctions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574878/original/file-20240212-16-a4jpiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C401%2C4459%2C2567&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bartailed-godwits-flight-1288802884">Alec Taylor/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1875, trillions of Rocky Mountain locusts gathered and began migrating across the western United States in search of food. The enormous swarm covered an area larger than California. Three decades later, these grasshoppers were extinct.</p>
<p>This fate is all too common for migratory species. Their journeys can make them especially vulnerable to hunting or fishing. They may move between countries, meaning protecting the species in one jurisdiction isn’t enough. And it’s hard for us to even know if they’re in trouble. </p>
<p>Today, we get a global glimpse of how migratory species are faring, in the <a href="https://www.cms.int/en/publication/state-worlds-migratory-species">first-ever stocktake</a> produced by the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species. The report shows falling populations in close to half (44%) the 1,189 species tracked by the convention. The problem is much worse underwater – 90% of migratory fish species are threatened with extinction.</p>
<p>Their decline is not inevitable. After all, the migratory humpback whale was headed for rapid extinction – until we stopped whaling. </p>
<h2>Why are migratory species at higher risk?</h2>
<p>Every year, birds weighing about 300 grams leave Siberia and fly non-stop to Australia. Some bar-tailed godwits <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/27/bar-tailed-godwit-sets-world-record-with-13560km-continuous-flight-from-alaska-to-southern-australia">fly 13,000 km</a> without stopping – one of the longest known continuous migrations. </p>
<p>Their journeys are critical for their life cycles – to find food, mates or a better climate. To undertake these journeys, animals must be in good condition with plenty of fat stores, and they must have safe flyways, swimways and pathways. </p>
<p>On land, roads and fences carve up migratory routes for animals like wildebeest. At sea, fishing trawlers chase migrating schools of fish and often accidentally collect sea turtles, albatrosses and whales. On seashores, development or land reclamation take away vital resting points for migrating shorebirds. </p>
<p>What the report shows us is that migration between countries is getting harder and harder. While a few species are benefiting greatly from farming and artificial wetlands, many more are being severely harmed. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574874/original/file-20240212-20-5wyi5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="wildebeest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574874/original/file-20240212-20-5wyi5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574874/original/file-20240212-20-5wyi5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574874/original/file-20240212-20-5wyi5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574874/original/file-20240212-20-5wyi5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574874/original/file-20240212-20-5wyi5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574874/original/file-20240212-20-5wyi5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574874/original/file-20240212-20-5wyi5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even the largest migrations can be stopped by fences or other barriers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wildebeest-on-savannah-africa-1612993756">Mcknub/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Overexploitation is the top risk</h2>
<p>Human exploitation of migratory species – taken as food, bycatch or exterminated as “pest” species – is the main reason why these species are in decline. </p>
<p>Animals often migrate in large groups, making them an appealing target for hunting or fishing. This is why we no longer have species such as the passenger pigeon, once numbering in their billions but hunted to extinction in 100 years. </p>
<p>Marine species are often out of sight, out of mind. But this report is a huge red flag for ocean ecosystems. Oceanic shark and ray populations have fallen 71% since 1970, which coincides with an 18 fold increase in fishing pressure. Bycatch in commercial fisheries is a huge problem for sharks, turtles, mammals and birds, but it can be massively reduced with existing technology, if deployed across all fleets </p>
<p>Overexploitation can be stopped. In 1981, <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1981/6.html">Australia and Japan agreed</a> to stop hunting Latham’s Snipe, a migratory shorebird that travels between the two countries. It’s the same story for humpback whales, which have returned in large numbers – and created a new industry, whale-watching. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574865/original/file-20240212-22-rd6a4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="dead manta ray fishing" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574865/original/file-20240212-22-rd6a4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574865/original/file-20240212-22-rd6a4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574865/original/file-20240212-22-rd6a4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574865/original/file-20240212-22-rd6a4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574865/original/file-20240212-22-rd6a4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574865/original/file-20240212-22-rd6a4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574865/original/file-20240212-22-rd6a4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Populations of sharks and rays have plummeted since 1970 – and fishing pressure is to blame.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/on-seashore-laid-out-manta-rays-157715903">Orin/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>On fences and stepping stones</h2>
<p>Direct killing of migratory animals isn’t the only threat. Clearing forests and grassland for farming destroys habitat. Light pollution can mess with navigation, climate change plays havoc with the timing of migration, and underwater noise pollution can confuse marine migrants. Even simple actions like building fences, roads and dams can disrupt migrations over land and through rivers. </p>
<p>Many migratory species need stepping stones: resting sites linking up their whole migratory route. If just one site is lost – or if animals are intensely hunted there – the whole chain can collapse. </p>
<p>Once identified, key areas have to be protected, which is where we often get stuck. But there are glimmers of hope. Last year conservation of these areas in the ocean got a boost when the world’s nations agreed to <a href="https://www.un.org/bbnj/">better protect</a> the high seas beyond national jurisdictions, which fills a planet-sized gap in biodiversity governance. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-now-have-a-treaty-governing-the-high-seas-can-it-protect-the-wild-west-of-the-oceans-201184">We now have a treaty governing the high seas. Can it protect the Wild West of the oceans?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What the report didn’t cover</h2>
<p>This is a groundbreaking report, but it has limitations. First, it only covers species listed under the UN convention, a tiny fraction of all migratory species. Listing unlocks stronger protections and urgently needs to be rolled out to more species.</p>
<p>For instance, around 60 migratory fish species are covered – but more than 1,700 others are not. Of these unprotected species, almost 25% are threatened, near threatened or there’s not enough data to know. </p>
<p>That’s to say nothing of insects. To date, only one insect is listed on the convention, the famous Monarch butterfly which migrates from the United States to Mexico. But <a href="https://radarentomology.com.au/">millions of tonnes of insects</a> migrate through the airspace each year, and we have largely no idea what they are, where they’re going or how they’re faring. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574881/original/file-20240212-28-ubdzxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="monarch butterfly" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574881/original/file-20240212-28-ubdzxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574881/original/file-20240212-28-ubdzxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574881/original/file-20240212-28-ubdzxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574881/original/file-20240212-28-ubdzxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574881/original/file-20240212-28-ubdzxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574881/original/file-20240212-28-ubdzxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574881/original/file-20240212-28-ubdzxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Monarch butterflies get the press – but many more insect species migrate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/monarch-butterflies-danaus-plexippus-flying-on-2232245525">Gudkov Andrey/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Can we save these species?</h2>
<p>We now know much more about why migratory species are in decline. But we’re still not acting to protect them adequately. </p>
<p>More than 90% of the world’s migratory birds aren’t adequately protected by national parks and other protected areas. Only 8% of the world’s protected land is joined up, preventing migrating animals from moving safely across their routes. Because of this, animals have to make daring sorties across unprotected land or sea to complete their journeys. </p>
<p>So what can be done? Agreements between countries can create more action, but in practice, each country needs to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12345">actually do</a> what it has already promised. </p>
<p>Policymakers can turn to a bevy of new tools, including <a href="https://www.birdlife.org/projects/ibas-mapping-most-important-places/">Important Bird & Biodiversity Areas</a> and the <a href="https://mico.eco/">Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean</a> system, to provide easy access to knowledge on how migratory species use and move through the world.</p>
<p>Animal migrations have collapsed on our watch. We need to do all we can to stem the losses and begin recovery if we want future generations to be able to experience nature in all its glory.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-australia-to-africa-fences-are-stopping-earths-great-animal-migrations-114586">From Australia to Africa, fences are stopping Earth's great animal migrations</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Fuller receives funding for migratory species research from the Australian Research Council and the National Environmental Science Program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Dunn receives funding from the Australian Research Council for a Discovery Project focused on understanding migratory connectivity in the ocean, and leads the development of the Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO; mico.eco) system, which has been previously supported by the German International Climate Initiative (IKI) and UNEP-WCMC, the authors of the UN report.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lily Bentley works on the Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO; mico.eco) system, which has been previously supported by the German International Climate Initiative (IKI) and UNEP-WCMC, the authors of the UN report.</span></em></p>Wildebeest herds churning dust. Sturgeon seeking spawning grounds. Shorebirds flying from Siberia. These iconic animal migrations could soon be a memory.Richard Fuller, Professor in Biodiversity and Conservation, The University of QueenslandDaniel Dunn, A/Prof of Marine Conservation Science & Director of the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science (CBCS), The University of QueenslandLily Bentley, Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1961302023-01-12T13:22:53Z2023-01-12T13:22:53ZLobsters versus right whales: The latest chapter in a long quest to make fishing more sustainable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503915/original/file-20230110-16-cf67f9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C7%2C5061%2C3344&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lobster fishing uses a lot of rope, and whales can die after becoming entangled in it. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/lobster-traps-and-ropes-on-a-dock-chatham-cape-cod-ma-news-photo/170495599">MyLoupe/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Maine lobster fishermen received a Christmas gift from Congress at the end of 2022: A <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/12/30/1146367811/maines-lobster-industry-wins-against-endangered-right-whale-protections">six-year delay</a> on new federal regulations designed to protect <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/north-atlantic-right-whale">critically endangered North Atlantic right whales</a>. </p>
<p>The rules would have required lobstermen to create new seasonal nonfishing zones and further reduce their use of vertical ropes to retrieve lobster traps from the seafloor. Entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/insight/understanding-vessel-strikes">many types of ships</a> are the <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/north-atlantic-right-whale">leading causes of right whale deaths</a>. </p>
<p>Maine’s congressional delegation amended a federal spending bill to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/04/1146637583/maine-lobster-industry-wins-reprieve-but-environmentalists-say-whales-will-die">delay the new regulations until 2028</a> and called for more research on whale entanglements and <a href="https://theconversation.com/high-tech-fishing-gear-could-help-save-critically-endangered-right-whales-115974">ropeless fishing gear</a>. Conservationists argue that the delay could drive North Atlantic right whales, which number about 340 today, <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/right-whale-condemned-to-extinction-in-senate-omnibus-2022-12-20/">to extinction</a>.</p>
<p>This is the latest chapter in an ongoing and sometimes fraught debate over fishing gear and <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/node/251">bycatch</a> – unintentionally caught species that fishermen don’t want and can’t sell. My research as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rDxMAlQAAAAJ&hl=en">maritime historian</a>, focusing on disputes tied to industrial fishing, shows the profound impacts that particular fishing gear can have on marine species. </p>
<p>Disputes over fishing gear and bycatch have involved consumers, commercial fishermen, recreational anglers and environmentalists. With conservation pitted against economic livelihoods, emotions often run high. And these controversies aren’t resolved quickly, which bodes poorly for species on the brink. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1569853496551260160"}"></div></p>
<h2>Millions of tons wasted</h2>
<p>Bycatch is difficult to measure. Estimates vary widely, but scientists have calculated that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12233">10% to 40% of total yearly catches worldwide</a> are species that weren’t targeted, including fish, whales, dolphins, turtles and <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/science-data/seabirds">seabirds</a>.</p>
<p>According to the United Nations, global fishery harvests totaled <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/cc0461en/cc0461en.pdf">178 million tons</a> in 2020. Even by the most conservative estimates, then, some 20 million tons are likely wasted annually. Advocacy focuses on high-profile species like sea turtles, dolphins and sharks, but the problem is much more pervasive. <a href="https://media.fisheries.noaa.gov/dam-migration/nbr_update_3.pdf">Recent studies of U.S. Atlantic fisheries</a> indicate that flounder, herring and halibut are among the species most frequently landed as bycatch. </p>
<p>At the same time, global demand for fish is rising. From 1961 to 2019, world fish consumption <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/cc0461en/cc0461en.pdf">grew by an average of 3% annually</a>, and yearly per capita consumption increased from 22 pounds (10 kilograms) to 46 pounds (21 kilograms). Today, fish consumption is split evenly between aquaculture, or farmed fish, and wild-capture fisheries, where bycatch occurs. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bjFSgr_B38I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Bycatch is a major global problem that kills fish, marine mammals, sea turtles and seabirds.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Dolphin-free tuna</h2>
<p>Most wild-catch fishing takes place far from shore, so bycatch occurs out of the public spotlight. Sometimes, though, threats to charismatic species make news.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most prominent example is U.S. consumers’ campaign against the tuna fishing industry for killing dolphins. In the 1950s, tuna fishermen adopted the <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/bycatch/fishing-gear-purse-seines">purse seine</a> – a long, rectangular net that hangs vertically in the water. Boats encircled schools of fish with these nets, then cinched them at the top and bottom. Some nets extended hundreds of feet deep and more than a mile from end to end. </p>
<p>Purse seines often swept up dolphins that swam alongside tuna. Using a method called “setting on dolphins,” tuna fishermen would <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.754755">search for pods of dolphin feeding at the surface</a>, which generally indicated that tuna were beneath them feeding as well. By the 1960s, it was estimated that nearly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12996">a quarter of a million dolphins were dying every year</a> when they became trapped in nets and suffered traumatic injuries or suffocated. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503917/original/file-20230110-4937-zh28b4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Label with an image of a dolphin and 'U.S. Department of Commerce/Dolphin Safe.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503917/original/file-20230110-4937-zh28b4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503917/original/file-20230110-4937-zh28b4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503917/original/file-20230110-4937-zh28b4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503917/original/file-20230110-4937-zh28b4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503917/original/file-20230110-4937-zh28b4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503917/original/file-20230110-4937-zh28b4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503917/original/file-20230110-4937-zh28b4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Logo approved by U.S. regulators in 2000 for tuna caught without targeting dolphins.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.fisheries.noaa.gov/dam-migration-miss/md_1FATNuBUz24L.jpg?1510953130">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When Congress held hearings in the early 1970s on a proposed <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520261846/american-tuna">ban on the capture of all species of whales</a>, including dolphins, this practice sparked outrage. The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1972/03/19/archives/the-great-porpoise-massacre-despite-the-tuna-fishermens-advanced.html">accused the tuna industry of “wanton slaughter</a>.” Millions of viewers watched televised documentaries with titles like “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myU1g3D-Mis">Last Day of the Dolphins?</a>” and “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY6NHyYqFJw&t=22s">Where Have All the Dolphins Gone?</a>” Advocacy groups campaigned with slogans like “<a href="https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,961907,00.html">Would You Kill Flipper for a Tuna Sandwich?</a>” and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-04-12-mn-795-story.html">boycotted canned tuna</a>.</p>
<p>Under pressure, major suppliers including StarKist, Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee pledged to use only tuna that was not caught using methods that endangered dolphins. In 1990, Congress passed legislation creating a label that identified canned tuna caught appropriately as “<a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/41203/18892_aer793f.pdf">dolphin-safe</a>.” Other measures <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.754755">banned tuna imports</a> from countries with dolphin mortality rates higher than those in U.S. fisheries.</p>
<h2>Trap doors for turtles</h2>
<p>The spotlight next shifted to the U.S. Gulf Coast, where shrimp catches were skyrocketing thanks to gear like <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/bycatch/fishing-gear-midwater-trawls">otter trawls</a> – large conical nets towed through the water behind fishing boats. By some estimates, for every 1,000 pounds of fish that these nets gathered, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Bay_Shrimpers_of_Texas/QV4QAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=1000%20pounds">less than 100 pounds was marketable shrimp</a>. Other species – usually dead, dying or injured – were tossed overboard.</p>
<p>Environmentalists and recreational anglers accused the fishing industry of endangering popular sport fish, such as red drum and spotted trout. But sea turtles, which often were found in the same coastal waters as shrimp, became critics’ poster animal. A 1990 report from the National Research Council estimated that shrimping killed <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/1536/chapter/2#5">up to 55,000 Kemp’s ridley and loggerhead sea turtles yearly</a>.</p>
<p>Federal regulators initially proposed voluntary use of <a href="https://www.seagrantfish.lsu.edu/management/TEDs&BRDs/teds_history.htm">turtle excluder devices, or TEDs</a> – small trap doors in fishing nets that could allow captured turtles to swim free. In 1987, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/southeast/bycatch/history-turtle-excluder-devices">published mandatory TED usage regulations</a>, which went into effect in 1989 after several years of lawsuits, injunctions and state legal action. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F7j5yXnZo2Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, direct sea turtles toward openings in shrimp nets that allow the turtles to escape.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many fishermen argued that TEDs greatly reduced their shrimp catches and resisted the new regulations, <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/07/23/Shrimper-blockade-dismantled-as-small-protest-continues/6163617169600/">sometimes agressively</a>. Over time, however, shrimpers began working with federal regulators to develop and test TEDs that <a href="https://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/pdf-content/MFR/mfr742/mfr7423.pdf">released turtles and retained shrimp more effectively</a>. Today, sea turtles are <a href="https://www.iucn-mtsg.org/statuses">still at risk</a>, but there is wide agreement that modern TEDs effectively reduce turtle bycatch. Conservation organizations are working to <a href="https://www.iucncongress2020.org/motion/097">increase their use worldwide</a>.</p>
<h2>Slow progress</h2>
<p>Fishermen often are quick to rebut claims that their methods endanger other species. They typically assert that their fishing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac045">has little impact on the broader ecosystem</a> and that new gear and practices will be <a href="https://www.nationalfisherman.com/national-international/why-everything-you-ve-heard-about-ropeless-crab-fishing-gear-is-false">too costly or ineffective</a> against a minor problem. </p>
<p>Ultimately, public pressure – including <a href="https://defenders.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/219_MSJ%20opinion.pdf">lawsuits</a> – can lead to regulation, especially when a potent symbol like dolphins, sea turtles or, perhaps, right whales, is threatened. The Maine lobster fishery has lost several <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/09/10/lobster-red-list-maine-seafood-watch/8048412001/">sustainable</a> <a href="https://www.msc.org/en-us/media-center/news-media/press-release/msc-certificate-suspended-for-gulf-of-maine-lobster-fishery">certifications</a> because of concerns about right whale entanglements.</p>
<p>But regulation isn’t enough. Reducing dolphin and sea turtle bycatch also required <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsac210">extensive engagement between regulators and fisheries</a> to educate fishermen and develop and test gear. It’s not clear whether this will happen fast enough to save North Atlantic right whales. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1563283487402381312"}"></div></p>
<p>Across broad swaths of the globe, including much of Africa and Asia, more than 3 billion people obtain <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/ca9229en/online/ca9229en.html#chapter-1_1">from 20% to over 50%</a> of the animal protein in their diets from aquatic sources. Rising demand for wild-caught fish is likely to increase bycatch. In my view, unintentional capture of any species – whether it’s a winsome <a href="https://iwc.int/about-whales/whale-species/spinner-dolphin">spinner dolphin</a> or a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.1202">bottom-dwelling scavenger like the hagfish</a> – harms the ocean’s ecological health and threatens communities that rely on the sea for sustenance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196130/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blake Earle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To fish the oceans sustainably, nations must reduce bycatch, or accidental catches. But fishermen often resist changing gear or techniques that kill nontargeted species.Blake Earle, Assistant Professor of History, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1951802022-11-30T13:37:38Z2022-11-30T13:37:38ZBeware of ‘Shark Week’: Scientists watched 202 episodes and found them filled with junk science, misinformation and white male ‘experts’ named Mike<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497069/original/file-20221123-20-w4v0g6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C3%2C2035%2C1358&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hammerhead sharks schooling near Costa Rica's Cocos Island.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/GqmhHb">John Voo/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Discovery Channel’s annual <a href="https://www.discovery.com/shark-week">Shark Week</a> is the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2018/07/24/shark-scientists-explain-whats-right-and-whats-wrong-with-shark-week/">longest-running cable television series in history</a>, filling screens with sharky content every summer since 1988. It causes one of the largest temporary increases in U.S. viewers’ attention to any <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000146">science or conservation topic</a>. </p>
<p>It’s also the largest stage in marine biology, giving scientists who appear on it access to an audience of millions. Being featured by high-profile media outlets can help researchers attract attention and funding that can help super-charge their careers. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, Shark Week is also a missed opportunity. As scientists and conservationists <a href="https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/books-media/what-shark-experts-really-think-about-shark-week/">have long argued</a>, it is a major source of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/07/06/420326546/after-sketchy-science-shark-week-promises-to-turn-over-a-new-fin">misinformation</a> and <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2013/08/05/shark-week-megalodon-fake-discovery-channel/">nonsense</a> about sharks, the scientists who study them, and how people can help protect endangered species from extinction.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xb7noGAAAAAJ&hl=en">marine biologist</a> who worked with five colleagues in 2022 to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256842">scientifically analyze the content of Shark Week episodes</a>. We tracked down copies of 202 episodes, watched them all and coded their content based on more than 15 variables, including locations, which experts were interviewed, which shark species were mentioned, what scientific research tools were used, whether the episodes mentioned shark conservation and how sharks were portrayed. </p>
<p>Even as longtime Shark Week critics, we were staggered by our findings. The episodes that we reviewed were full of incorrect information and provided a wildly misleading picture of the field of shark research. Some episodes <a href="https://www.earthtouchnews.com/oceans/sharks/experts-shark-weeks-zombie-sharks-harasses-animals/">glorified wildlife harassment</a>, and many missed countless chances to teach a massive audience about shark conservation. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tKXd8Ud1sOo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Sharks are apex predators that are key to maintaining healthy ecosystems, but a 2020 study that surveyed 371 coral reefs found that 20% had no sharks present.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Spotlight real solutions</h2>
<p>First, some facts. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-sharks-skates-and-rays-2075391">Sharks and their relatives</a>, such as rays and skates, are among the most threatened vertebrate animals on Earth. About one-third of all known species are at risk of extinction, thanks mainly to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.062">overfishing</a>. </p>
<p>Many policy solutions, such as setting fishing quotas, creating protected species lists and delineating no-fishing zones, are enacted <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12265">nationally or internationally</a>. But there also are countless situations in which increased public attention can help <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12267/why-sharks-matter">move the conservation needle</a>. For instance, consumers can avoid buying seafood produced using <a href="https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/act-for-the-ocean/sustainable-seafood">unsustainable fishing methods</a> that may accidentally catch sharks.</p>
<p>Conversely, focusing on the wrong problems <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2020-0058">does not lead to useful solutions</a>. As one example, enacting a ban on shark fin sales in the U.S. would have little effect on global shark deaths, since the U.S. is only involved in about 1% of the global fin trade, and could <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2017.08.026">undermine sustainable U.S. shark fisheries</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497065/original/file-20221123-24-qt5nyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A shark caught in a fishing net dangles over the side of a boat with a crew member reaching out." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497065/original/file-20221123-24-qt5nyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497065/original/file-20221123-24-qt5nyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497065/original/file-20221123-24-qt5nyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497065/original/file-20221123-24-qt5nyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497065/original/file-20221123-24-qt5nyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497065/original/file-20221123-24-qt5nyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497065/original/file-20221123-24-qt5nyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A crew member aboard a commercial fishing boat off the coast of Maine tries to cut a shark loose from a gillnet. Sharks often are caught accidentally by fishermen pursuing other species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/crew-member-aboard-a-commercial-fishing-boat-tries-to-cut-a-news-photo/1243631026">Mailee Osten-Tan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Discovery Channel claims that by attracting massive audiences, Shark Week <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2018/07/24/shark-scientists-explain-whats-right-and-whats-wrong-with-shark-week/">helps educate the public</a> about shark conservation. But most of the shows we reviewed didn’t mention conservation at all, beyond vague statements that sharks need help, without describing the threats they face or how to address them. </p>
<p>Out of 202 episodes that we examined, just six contained any actionable tips. Half of those simply advised against eating <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/shark-fin-soup">shark fin soup</a>, a traditional Asian delicacy. Demand for shark fin soup can contribute to the gruesome practice of “<a href="https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/fish/what-is-shark-finning-and-why-is-it-a-problem/">finning</a>” – cutting fins off live sharks and throwing the mutilated fish overboard to die. But finning is not the biggest threat to sharks, and most U.S.-based Shark Week viewers don’t eat shark fin soup.</p>
<h2>Spotlighting divers, not research</h2>
<p>When we analyzed episodes by the type of scientific research they featured, the most frequent answer was “no scientific research at all,” followed by what we charitably called “other.” This category included nonsense like building a submarine that looks like a shark, or a “<a href="https://www.ffjournal.net/item/12437-wasp-water-armor-shark-protection.html">high tech” custom shark cage</a> to observe some aspect of shark behavior. These episodes focused on alleged risk to the scuba divers shown on camera, especially when the devices inevitably failed, but failed to address any research questions.</p>
<p>Such framing is not representative of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1643/OT-19-179R">actual shark research</a>, which uses methods ranging from tracking tagged sharks via satellite to genetic and paleontological studies conducted entirely in labs. Such work may not be as exciting on camera as divers surrounded by schooling sharks, but it generates much more useful data. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/punSQuf-ZwQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, describes findings from his lab’s analysis of shark genetics.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who’s on camera</h2>
<p>We also were troubled by the “experts” interviewed on many Shark Week shows. The most-featured source, underwater photographer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7t7jl8e0Mw">Andy Casagrande</a>, is an award-winning cameraman, and episodes when he stays behind the camera can be great. But given the chance to speak, he regularly claims the mantle of science while making dubious assertions – for example, that <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC4EXPLORE/status/1285972513328070689">shark diving while taking LSD</a> is a great way to learn about these animals – or presents well-known shark behaviors as new discoveries that he made, while <a href="https://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/mega-shark-episode-criticized-as-a-low-point-for-shark-week/">misrepresenting what those behaviors mean</a>.</p>
<p>Nor does Shark Week accurately represent experts in this field. One issue is ethnicity: Three of the five most-featured locations on Shark Week are Mexico, South Africa and the Bahamas, but we could count on one hand the number of non-white scientists who we saw featured in shows about their own countries. It was far more common for Discovery to fly a white male halfway around the world than to feature a local scientist. </p>
<p>Moreover, while <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.842618">more than half of U.S. shark scientists are female</a>, you <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-dark-side-of-being-a-female-shark-researcher/">wouldn’t know this from watching Shark Week</a>. Among people who we saw featured in more than one episode, there were more white male non-scientists named Mike than women of any profession or name. </p>
<p>In contrast, the Discovery Channel’s chief competitor, National Geographic, is partnering with the professional organization <a href="https://www.misselasmo.org/">Minorities in Shark Sciences</a> to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/building-a-community-and-fostering-a-love-for-sharks">feature diverse experts</a> on its shows.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1585646957233512450"}"></div></p>
<h2>More substance and better representation</h2>
<p>How could Shark Week improve? Our paper makes several recommendations, and we also participated in a workshop, highlighting diverse voices in our field from all over the world, that focused on <a href="https://safesharks.org/diversifying-shark-media/">improving representation of scientists in shark-focused media</a> </p>
<p>First, we believe that not every documentary needs to be a dry, boring science lecture, but that the information shared on marine biology’s biggest stage should be factually correct and useful. Gimmicky concepts like Discovery’s “<a href="https://www.discovery.com/shows/naked-and-afraid/episodes/naked-and-afraid-of-sharks-2">Naked and Afraid of Sharks 2</a>” – an endurance contest with entrants wearing masks, fins and snorkels, but no clothes – show that people will watch anything with sharks in it. So why not try to make something good? </p>
<p>We also suggest that more scientists seek out media training so they can take advantage of opportunities like Shark Week without <a href="https://gizmodo.com/shark-week-lied-to-scientists-to-get-them-to-appear-in-1619280737">being taken advantage of</a>. Similarly, it would be great to have a “Yelp”-like service that scientists could use to rate their experiences with media companies. Producers who want to feature appropriately diverse scientists can turn to databases like <a href="https://500womenscientists.org/">500 Women Scientists</a> and <a href="https://diversifyeeb.com/">Diversify EEB</a>. </p>
<p>For a decade, concerned scientists and conservationists have <a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/07/06/420326546/after-sketchy-science-shark-week-promises-to-turn-over-a-new-fin">reached out to the Discovery Channel</a> about our concerns with Shark Week. As our article recounts, Discovery has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256842">pledged in the past</a> to present programming during Shark Week that puts more emphasis on science and less on entertainment – and some episodes <a href="https://twitter.com/whysharksmatter/status/620417258406318080?lang=en">have shown improvement</a>.</p>
<p>But our findings show that many Shark Week depictions of sharks are still problematic, pseudoscientific, nonsensical or unhelpful. We hope that our analysis will motivate the network to use its massive audience to help sharks and elevate the scientists who study them. </p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: The Conversation US contacted Warner Brothers Discovery by phone and email for comment on the study described in this article. The network did not immediately respond or offer comment.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195180/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Shiffman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A study offers evidence that marine biology’s biggest stage is broken, and suggests ways to fix it.David Shiffman, Faculty Research Associate in Marine Biology, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1904742022-09-23T15:48:57Z2022-09-23T15:48:57ZWhy wandering albatrosses get divorced – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486094/original/file-20220922-15568-f1q4ai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C23%2C3130%2C2072&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wandering albatross pair performing a courtship dance</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Samantha Patrick</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Monogamy is widespread among birds and it is well known that many seabird species mate for life. Famous examples include charismatic penguins and albatrosses which are often portrayed in the media as the perfect couples. But this romantic trope doesn’t tell the whole story. </p>
<p>Research has shown that up to 24% of wandering albatross chicks are reared by a male who is not <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-012-1374-8">their genetic father</a> and this can be up to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10336-019-01720-4">31% in some penguin species</a>. Not quite the tender idyll we are led to believe. </p>
<p>Seabirds are long-lived, with wandering albatrosses known to live for over 60 years. Their long pair bonding phase, accompanied by <a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.403.7825&rep=rep1&type=pdf">complex courtship dances</a>, would make you think break ups should be rare. However, there is growing evidence seabirds do “divorce”. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0301">our new study</a> we showed 13% of wandering albatrosses born on the remote Indian Ocean <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crozet_Islands">Crozet Archipelago</a> divorce during their lifetime because of low numbers of females – and the actions of certain agressive males. </p>
<p>Sometimes birds split up to find a better mate. How birds assess mate quality is not fully understood. But it may be about age and behavioural traits the birds can observe. This is called adaptive divorce and has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.08.002">noted in some seabird species</a> before such as penguins. </p>
<p>But in our study something different was happening. Unlike some other birds divorce did not tend to increase the number of young <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecm.1522?fbclid=IwAR1SbN4AI7BCbZCNvnIm1FqC3z67R93BM174ulZ0A1n9otY_Mmk-a6wS1pU">a wandering albatross reared</a> and didn’t seem to give them evolutionary advantages. </p>
<p>In the population we studied, couples were driven apart by what’s called forced divorce. This is where one bird, likely the males in our study, breaks up a bonded pair. </p>
<h2>Show some personality</h2>
<p>This was the first study in the wild which looked at behavioural characteristics such as aggression of these kind of “homewrecker” males. </p>
<p>Personality is well studied across the animal kingdom, from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021963">anemones</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026566">elephants</a>. We know that seabirds have different personalities, linked to their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13106">foraging behaviour</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1649">reproductive success</a>.
Personality is defined as a consistent individual difference in behaviour and is measured using traits such as boldness, neophobia (fear of new things) and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2004.04.009">aggression</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486095/original/file-20220922-34255-rstvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486095/original/file-20220922-34255-rstvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486095/original/file-20220922-34255-rstvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486095/original/file-20220922-34255-rstvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486095/original/file-20220922-34255-rstvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486095/original/file-20220922-34255-rstvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486095/original/file-20220922-34255-rstvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some albatrosses were bolder than others.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Samantha Patrick</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In wandering albatrosses, we measured personality in two different ways. The first is what is called a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.748">human approach</a>, where a person walks towards a bird incubating an egg on the nest and records its response. Males and females share incubation duties and both sexes can be tested in this way. The birds nest on marshy land so the tester had to wear snow shoes to avoid sinking. </p>
<p>We also tested how the birds responded to a novel object, in this case <a href="https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2013/04/24/sense-and-sensibility-in-the-southern-ocean-a-character-building-story-of-albatross-and-researcher-personalities-in-extreme-conditions-part-6-terres-inconnues/">Betsy the space hopper cow</a>. Unfortunately for Betsy, while the personality differences persisted among different birds, the albatrosses were all much more aggressive towards her. Betsy did not survive an attack late in the season when a particularly bold bird <a href="https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2014/12/10/travels-with-betsy-exploring-the-world-of-albatross-personality/">ripped her open</a>.</p>
<p>The albatrosses ranged from shy ones, who showed no response, to dauntless types that stood up and called out. Bold females were no more likely to divorce than timid ones. However, shyer males had higher divorce rates suggesting that bolder males may be forcing timid males out of pair bonds. </p>
<p>Unpaired females are rare. The Crozet albatross population is <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3565767">male skewed</a> because more females die trapped in fishing equipment. Males and females have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2013.10.021">different hunting strategies</a> that change throughout their life. For instance, as males mature, they move increasingly further south to Antarctic waters. Females stay in subtropical waters throughout their lives, and forage areas further north. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486096/original/file-20220922-24-1vki09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486096/original/file-20220922-24-1vki09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486096/original/file-20220922-24-1vki09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486096/original/file-20220922-24-1vki09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486096/original/file-20220922-24-1vki09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486096/original/file-20220922-24-1vki09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486096/original/file-20220922-24-1vki09.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wandering albatrosses fly great distances in search of food.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Samantha Patrick</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a previous study we showed divorced wandering albatrosses <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1522">do not have more chicks</a> so females are unlikely to benefit from seeking new mates. This supports the theory that wandering albatross pairs are not choosing to divorce. Instead, it seems to be a few rogue males who are ending the partnerships of these otherwise monogamous birds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190474/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Patrick works for the University of Liverpool.</span></em></p>A new study took a closer look at breeding pairs of these seabirds to find out why their bonds aren’t standing the test of time.Samantha Patrick, Reader in Marine Biology, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1849572022-06-30T13:36:03Z2022-06-30T13:36:03ZHow marine fisheries can add millions of tonnes to Africa’s catch<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470511/original/file-20220623-51568-ifh3ka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The African continent produces <a href="https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/collection/global_production?lang=en">seven million tonnes</a> of marine fish a year. This capture has increased in recent years thanks to improved catches in <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/4445981#.YqNznnbP02w">west Africa</a> and the end of Somalian piracy in the Indian Ocean. </p>
<p>But the growth in supply can’t match the growing demand. Africa’s <a href="https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/">population</a> is expected to reach 1.7 billion in 2030 and 2.5 billion in 2050. Fish consumption is already 7.5kg per capita per year. It would need to grow to 13 million tonnes of marine fish in 2030 and almost 19 million tonnes in 2050. </p>
<p>These figures provide an idea of the scale of the production gap: about six million tonnes in 2030 and 12 million in 2050. Much change is required to reach such targets.</p>
<p>We did a <a href="https://www.afdb.org/en/documents/future-marine-fisheries-african-blue-economy">study</a> evaluating the potential for development of fisheries and aquaculture in the region to overcome this production gap and ensure the food security and livelihoods of the millions of people across the continent who depend on fisheries and fishery resources for survival and income.</p>
<p>Our main finding was that despite the pressures fisheries face, there is enormous potential to increase the productivity of the fisheries. At the same time there is potential to increase the health of coastal and marine environments and provide new avenues for job creation.</p>
<p>This review can be used to inform sustainable fisheries development and governance of sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources. This is particularly important given the increasing attention given to the development of Africa’s “<a href="https://theconversation.com/review-of-nine-african-blue-economy-projects-shows-what-works-and-what-doesnt-143841">blue economy</a>”.</p>
<h2>Threats and opportunities</h2>
<p>Climate change and the associated alterations in fish distribution patterns pose significant <a href="http://www.labpesq.io.usp.br/images/publicacoes/_Lam_et_al_2020.pdf">threats to catch potential</a> and to the security of coastal communities. Reductions in water quality through pollution, habitat destruction, and unsustainable and destructive fishing practices imperil the ability of ecosystems to support fisheries. </p>
<p>It’s hard to manage ecosystems effectively when there is a <a href="https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/23063978/TREGAROT_2020_cright_Valuation_of_coastal_ecosystem_services_in_the_Large_Marine_Ecosystems_of_Africa.pdf">lack of information</a>. </p>
<p>Fish don’t stay within national boundaries and this raises complex issues. Jurisdictions overlap and governance of fish resources is poor at all levels. It has tended to focus on volume of production. This combination of issues has already caused the over-exploitation of all major fish resources.</p>
<p>Despite the threats, there are still opportunities to secure the future of African marine fisheries. </p>
<p>Firstly, the continental fish market is large, with <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/dynenviron/2760">high demand and increasing purchasing power</a>. Africa is a <a href="http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/software/fishstatj/en">net importer</a> of fish but has the potential to become a net exporting continent. </p>
<p>Secondly, there is increasing attention and finance being invested in the health of ecosystems. Efforts are being made to mitigate biodiversity loss and the effects of climate change. Coastal ecosystems have an important role in carbon sequestration and coastal protection. Restoring them helps protect fishery resources. </p>
<p>Lastly, with the increasing importance of developing the blue economy, fisheries are being integrated into a much wider management system. They are <a href="https://www.au-ibar.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/sd_20200313_africa_blue_economy_strategy_en.pdf">gaining increasing attention</a> for their contributions to blue growth.</p>
<h2>Securing the future</h2>
<p>Making use of these opportunities has the potential to significantly increase the production of Africa’s marine fisheries. There are three key areas of intervention: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>restoring ecosystems to health</p></li>
<li><p>improving the sustainability of fisheries operations</p></li>
<li><p>improving harvest and post-harvest chains.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>According to our analysis, restoring ecosystems to a healthy condition could increase fish production by 50-60%, adding 9-10.5 million tonnes to annual net supply by 2050. Healthy ecosystems have more abilities to provide precious services to humans, and more so the fisheries. Healthy ecosystems act as nurseries, feeding grounds, and breeding grounds for various species important to the fisheries. </p>
<p>This value can be exceeded through more accurate valuation of ecosystems, increasing the role of marine protected areas in fisheries management, and improved marine spatial planning.</p>
<p>A further two to three million tonnes of fish net supply could be delivered by 2050. It can be done by improving the sustainability of fisheries operations and reducing the environmental footprint of fleets and processing industries. </p>
<p>Proper transboundary management should focus on resolving foreign access agreements, and addressing informal and illegal fishing. </p>
<p>Operations can do more to limit the waste of bycatch and discard.</p>
<p>Improving harvest and post-harvest chains has the potential to deliver 1.5-2 million tonnes net supply by 2030. Scaled-up mariculture (fish farming) can offer two to four million tonnes. Adding value to products – for example smoking and drying fish – can reduce losses that are now <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308597X21005364">35% of harvests</a>. </p>
<p>Finally, Africa can reduce its vulnerability to external shocks by <a href="https://digitalarchive.worldfishcenter.org/handle/20.500.12348/3864">boosting intra-regional trade</a> and limiting exports. The nutritional needs of African nations should come first. Links at the African level need to be forged and investment channelled into regional collaborative mechanisms for trade. </p>
<p>For each of these four areas of intervention, specific solutions exist. Most of them have already been implemented with success – they just need to be promoted and scaled up. </p>
<p>Within the current continental, regional and national blue economy schemes, pathways are available to integrate fishing with restoring ecosystems. Together they can provide benefits for biodiversity, food security, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was supported by the African Natural Resources Centre (ANRC) of the African Development Bank. The views do not represent those of ANRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pierre Failler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is enormous potential to increase the productivity of African fisheries. There is also potential to improve coastal and marine health.Antaya March, Senior Research Associate Centre for Blue Governance, University of PortsmouthPierre Failler, Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre for Blue Governance, UNESCO Chair in Ocean Governance, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1672422021-09-15T15:03:12Z2021-09-15T15:03:12ZHow a new app helps fishing boats avoid endangered species<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421402/original/file-20210915-27-1dypv5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C4902%2C3207&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ullapool-scotland-august-28-2019-fishing-1621202401">A blue fishing trawler off the coast of Ullapool.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The discarding of fish at sea – known as “<a href="https://www.msc.org/what-we-are-doing/oceans-at-risk/what-is-bycatch-and-how-can-it-be-managed">bycatch</a>” – happens when fish have no commercial value or annual quotas for a commercial species are limited. It is widely regarded as a wasteful and unsustainable practice. A shocking <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51415240">267,000 tonnes of fish</a> were dumped in the North Sea in 2010. To reduce this waste, in 2013 EU member states agreed to the introduction of the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/oceans-and-fisheries/fisheries/rules/discarding-fisheries_en">landing obligation</a> in EU waters. In January 2019, this was fully enforced, effectively serving as a ban on discarding commercial species. </p>
<p>The implementation of this ban created the so-called “<a href="https://thefishsite.com/articles/avoiding-the-choke">choke species</a>” problem. Choke species are fish with catches limited by annual quotas but which cannot easily be avoided or, under the landing obligation, discarded. This potentially results in the early tie-up of a fishing boat if that vessel’s annual quota for the choke species is exhausted before their quotas for other fish species are used up.</p>
<p>One way of reducing the catch of choke species is for fishers is to avoid areas and times where the likelihood of encountering the species is highest. But this poses a technical challenge: how can a fishing boat know when and where these unwanted choke species are without catching them in the first place? </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_3od7CqoQfs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Real-time reporting</h2>
<p>Many fishing vessels report and share catch observations and position data as it is recorded using an automated communication system known as real-time reporting. This shared data is then processed to produce maps showing hotspots where catch rates are high. First implemented in the Alaskan pollock fishery in the mid-1990s, this has since been used to reduce bycatch of salmon during their annual migrations.</p>
<p>In 2019, the west coast of Scotland fishery was awarded a bycatch-only quota <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-sea-fisheries-statistics-2019/pages/3/">for cod</a>, meaning that there was effectively zero quota available to fishers and that they would have to find ways to reduce cod catches to the lowest possible levels. If fishers were able to share real-time reporting information about when and where they were catching cod in real-time, then areas of high cod catches could be avoided.</p>
<p>Early consultations with Scottish fishers showed general support for using such a system on the west coast. However, fishers were reluctant to share information they regard as a personal or even a financial asset. Overcoming this hesitancy was essential if real-time reporting was going to be implemented in Scottish waters. </p>
<p>We set about designing a real-time reporting app, getting fishers to help design it as a way of encouraging them to use it. Since most fishers would be using the software as a phone app, it was important that it was easy for them to enter the data. It was also essential that the software satisfied their information requirements, security concerns, and limited tolerance for sharing catch and position data. Thanks to their input, we added the <a href="https://britishseafishing.co.uk/spurdog/">spurdog fish</a> (<em>Squalus acanthias</em>) to the system, since it is a species of conservation concern and seasonally present on the west coast waters in large clusters.</p>
<p>The bespoke software that came out of this collaborative process is called <a href="https://info.batmap.co.uk">Bycatch Avoidance Tool using mapping</a> – BATmap. It was launched in June 2020 and participation was voluntary, with only fishers who agreed to contribute data being enrolled. </p>
<p>Vessels submit their catch data within two hours of the haul coming onboard, while position data is automatically submitted by monitoring units specially installed on each vessel. When a vessel reports that it has caught a lot of cod, an alert is automatically sent to all participating fishers detailing the volume and location of the catch. Fishers can then consider this information, along with other factors, when deciding when and where to fish.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustration of a cod fish." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421361/original/file-20210915-25-l9f4x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421361/original/file-20210915-25-l9f4x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421361/original/file-20210915-25-l9f4x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421361/original/file-20210915-25-l9f4x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421361/original/file-20210915-25-l9f4x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421361/original/file-20210915-25-l9f4x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421361/original/file-20210915-25-l9f4x2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cod stocks in UK waters are endangered.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/atlantic-cod-fresh-gadus-morhua-fish-1433476505">xpixel/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Results so far</h2>
<p>Since its launch, more than 2,971 catch reports have been submitted to BATmap, with 85 and 29 alerts triggered for cod and spurdog respectively. There are currently 14 vessels using BATmap. One fisher told us that though it will take more time for the system to develop fully, his initial concerns about sharing information had been overcome.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, we are cautiously optimistic that real-time reporting will become firmly established as part of day-to-day fishing operations on the west coast of Scotland. Follow-on funding has been secured to continue the development of BATmap, which will include a data governance policy and a five-year strategic plan for embedding it more firmly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167242/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tara Marshall receives funding from Fisheries Innovation Scotland. </span></em></p>A collaborative approach with Scottish fishers has led to an app that shares data about the location of endangered species so that other fishing vessels can avoid them.Tara Marshall, Senior Lecturer in Fisheries Science, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1583152021-05-11T14:53:48Z2021-05-11T14:53:48ZSeaspiracy: how to make fishing more sustainable by tackling bycatch – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400036/original/file-20210511-16-1kfg7wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1920%2C1437&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bycatch is a serious problem within commercial fishing</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/caught-web-fishing-net-fishing-nets-138850/">Efraimstochter/Pixabay</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Capturing audiences worldwide with its no-holds-barred indictment of the fishing industry, Netflix’s <a href="https://www.netflix.com/id-en/title/81014008">Seaspiracy</a> is the latest documentary to draw attention to the plight of our oceans. With marine species at risk of <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/resources/summary-statistics">extinction</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2013.11.022">degradation</a> of coral reef habitats, and threats to <a href="http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/534317a">nutritionally important fish species</a>, public concern about ocean mismanagement is well founded. </p>
<p>But does Seaspiracy hit the right mark? The film has been widely <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/seaspiracy-netflix-marines-true-story-b1824038.html">criticised</a> for its sweeping generalisations and oversimplified solutions. While it’s true that fisheries hurt marine ecosystems through <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/17/trawling-for-fish-releases-as-much-carbon-as-air-travel-report-finds-climate-crisis">degrading ocean habitats and driving climate change</a>, they’re also the source of huge social and economic value. Fisheries employ at least <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/i5555e/i5555e.pdf">40 million people</a> and provide <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/i5555e/i5555e.pdf">17% of global animal protein intake</a>. </p>
<p>That means simply stopping seafood consumption is neither a fair nor realistic option for most people and places: not to mention the potential unintended consequences of shifting the pressure to produce food onto land-based systems. Instead, we need to recognise the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ocean-warming-has-fisheries-on-the-move-helping-some-but-hurting-more-116248">complex trade-offs</a> between fisheries and conservation, and work towards negotiating better solutions for people and nature.</p>
<p>What might this more balanced approach look like? Our <a href="https://rdcu.be/ckjQC">research</a> proposes a new solution: commercial fishing companies and seafood consumers should pay compensation for the environmental impacts of fisheries. To illustrate this idea, let’s take a look at the problem of bycatch.</p>
<h2>What’s so bad about bycatch?</h2>
<p><a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/ES12-00388.1">Bycatch</a> is the capture and death of marine life through large-scale fishing. It’s the <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/ES12-00388.1">most serious global threat</a> to migratory, long‐lived marine megafauna - the ocean’s largest and most iconic creatures, including sharks, turtles and seabirds. Overall, fisheries harm at least <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/CA2905EN/ca2905en.pdf">20 million</a> individual creatures from endangered, threatened and protected species annually. </p>
<p>This enormous damage to ocean ecosystems is rarely compensated for - or even acknowledged - by fishing companies. Nor is the damage accounted for in the price of seafood once it reaches the supermarket.</p>
<h2>How could bycatch levies help?</h2>
<p>One way to solve this is to nudge the behaviour of fishing companies and seafood consumers through economic incentives. Bycatch levies, for example, could set a price on each unit of bycatch, which would be paid for by fishing companies or passed on to consumers via higher seafood prices. </p>
<p>Particularly <a href="https://oceana.org/sites/default/files/Bycatch_Report_FINAL.pdf">significant sources of bycatch</a> include shrimp trawls, tuna longlines, and swordfish gill nets. That means bycatch levies would be higher for fishing companies using these practices, and seafood sourced via these methods could become more expensive.</p>
<p>This approach would encourage fisheries to adopt fishing methods that result in less bycatch. Examples include <a href="https://www.bmis-bycatch.org/mitigation-techniques/circle-hooks#:%7E:text=Experiments%20suggest%20that%20circle%20hooks,J%20hooks%20and%20tuna%20hooks.">circular hooks</a> to reduce turtle capture, <a href="https://www.bmis-bycatch.org/mitigation-techniques/monofilament-wire-leaders">nylon lines</a> that sharks can more easily escape, or safe <a href="https://www.bmis-bycatch.org/mitigation-techniques?species_group=All&gear=All&mt=603&keys=">live-release methods</a> to help bycaught animals be returned to the ocean. </p>
<p>Given that it’s almost impossible to completely <a href="https://theconversation.com/catch-22-technology-can-help-solve-fishings-environmental-issues-but-risks-swapping-one-problem-for-another-139618">avoid bycatch</a>, levies could also raise money to support conservation efforts for species particularly affected by bycatch: including restoring ocean habitats or supporting small-scale fishers to buy bycatch-reducing gear they otherwise couldn’t afford. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Dual benefits of bycatch levies" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393520/original/file-20210406-21-2lrc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393520/original/file-20210406-21-2lrc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393520/original/file-20210406-21-2lrc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393520/original/file-20210406-21-2lrc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393520/original/file-20210406-21-2lrc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393520/original/file-20210406-21-2lrc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393520/original/file-20210406-21-2lrc1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dual benefits of bycatch levies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hollie Booth</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Examples of bycatch levies are hard to come by, mainly due to companies and consumers’ unwillingness to foot extra costs. However, theoretical examples show that they’re potentially able to create benefits for both people and nature. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cobi.12239">study on turtle bycatch</a> in the US found that bycatch levies invested into turtle conservation could generate greater benefits for turtle populations per dollar than other measures, such as fishery closures. Based on this, a coalition of US-based tuna companies has begun to invest US$1 (£0.71) per tonne of longline-caught tuna into community-based turtle conservation projects in the Pacific Ocean, with <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.549570/full">positive and cost-effective outcomes</a> for turtles as well as coastal communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Smiling fisher and sea turtle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393521/original/file-20210406-19-1ovn0ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393521/original/file-20210406-19-1ovn0ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=206&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393521/original/file-20210406-19-1ovn0ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=206&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393521/original/file-20210406-19-1ovn0ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=206&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393521/original/file-20210406-19-1ovn0ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393521/original/file-20210406-19-1ovn0ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393521/original/file-20210406-19-1ovn0ku.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Investing bycatch levies in community-based conservation could create positive outcomes for fishers and people (photos from Aceh (left) and West Papua (right) in Indonesia)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hollie Booth</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the future, just as investors and consumers are demanding “deforestation-free” supply chains, so they could demand “bycatch-neutral” seafood. If widely adopted, this could generate billions of dollars for ocean conservation. The seven most commercially valuable tuna species are together worth about <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2016/05/netting-billions-a-global-valuation-of-tuna">US$42 billion</a>. If bycatch levies were valued at just 12% of this figure – a reasonable amount, given that global bycatch rates are estimated to make up at least <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/faf.12233">10%-20% of total catches</a> - this could raise enough money to pay for conserving <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/101/26/9694">20%–30% of the world’s oceans</a> while creating a host of long-term benefits for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03371-z">biodiversity, food security and climate</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://rdcu.be/ckjQC">Our findings</a> make it clear that levies must be well-designed, responsibly deployed, and used alongside other measures, such as establishing marine protected areas and developing more selective fishing technology. Importantly, they would need to be supported by supply chain transparency, consumer demand for responsible seafood and increased fisheries monitoring.</p>
<p>Of course, bycatch levies aren’t the answer to all marine conservation issues. But they do represent a new approach to some of the environmental damage caused by fishing, in a way that enables both fishers and consumers to continue to enjoy seafood without a side of guilt. </p>
<p>Despite what Seaspiracy may have us believe, saving the oceans doesn’t have to mean shutting down fisheries. What it should mean is pushing fishing companies and seafood consumers to acknowledge the environmental consequences of their decisions - and to act accordingly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158315/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Arlidge has previously received research funding from the University of Oxford, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and the US National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hollie Booth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tackling bycatch in large-scale fishing can make our seafood habit more sustainableHollie Booth, PhD Candidate, Conservation Science, University of OxfordWilliam Arlidge, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland FisheriesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1541022021-01-27T16:36:28Z2021-01-27T16:36:28ZOceanic sharks and rays have declined by 71% since 1970 – a global solution is needed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380907/original/file-20210127-19-gu3qgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4353%2C2893&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/manta-ray-241545559">Rich Carey/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Oceanic sharks and rays live so far from land that the average person is unlikely to ever see them. But these species, which live in the vast open ocean, are also among the most revered, and include the great white shark and the giant manta ray. For millennia, their remoteness has allowed these species to largely avoid humans. But since the early 1950s, industrial-scale fishing fleets have been able to reach distant waters and gradually spread to exploit the entire global ocean. </p>
<p>Rising demand over the same period for shark and ray meat, as well as fins, gill plates and liver oil, has caused catches of the 30 or so oceanic species to soar. Marine biologists have been raising the alarm for several decades now, but their warnings were often limited to what regional trends showed. Now, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03173-9">new research</a> has brought together disparate threads of data into a single, global analysis of shark and ray populations in the open ocean.</p>
<p>Worldwide, oceanic shark and ray abundance has declined by 71% since 1970. More than half of the 31 species examined are now considered to be endangered, or even critically endangered. Compare this with 1980 when only one species, the plankton-feeding basking shark, was thought to be endangered. These are stark statistics, and they indicate that the future for the ocean’s top predators is fast deteriorating.</p>
<h2>Nose dive</h2>
<p>To arrive at the first global perspective on oceanic shark and ray population trends, the study synthesised a huge amount of data. The researchers calculated two separate indicators of biodiversity, using indexes established by the Convention on Biological Diversity to track progress towards international targets. They used state-of-the-art modelling to estimate trends in the relative abundance of species. One of the indicators combined assessments of 31 species by the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/">IUCN Red List</a> over a 38-year period.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369797/original/file-20201117-13-180ibt9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>This story is part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/oceans-21-96784">Oceans 21</a></em></strong>
<br><em>Our series on the global ocean opened with <a href="https://oceans21.netlify.app/">five in-depth profiles</a>. Look out for new articles on the state of our oceans in the lead up to the UN’s next climate conference, COP26. The series is brought to you by The Conversation’s international network.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The results revealed huge declines in the abundance of sharks in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Once abundant species such as the oceanic whitetip shark have declined by 75% globally in just the past half-century, while populations of the endangered shortfin mako shark – valued for its meat and fins – have shrunk by about 40%. Manta ray populations have suffered even greater losses.</p>
<p>The study attributes these declines to overfishing. The researchers documented a greater than twofold increase in fishing pressure from longline fisheries for instance, which use lines stretching 100km and bearing 1,200 baited hooks. These lines are deployed each day by any one of the thousands of longlining vessels worldwide, snaring sharks in the open ocean either intentionally or as bycatch while targeting other marine life.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A slab with several dead sharks lying on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380903/original/file-20210127-21-bfpx38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1597%2C1200&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380903/original/file-20210127-21-bfpx38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380903/original/file-20210127-21-bfpx38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380903/original/file-20210127-21-bfpx38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380903/original/file-20210127-21-bfpx38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380903/original/file-20210127-21-bfpx38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380903/original/file-20210127-21-bfpx38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shortfin mako sharks are one of the world’s fastest animals, but often fall foul of fishing gear.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortfin_mako_shark#/media/File:Poxa_de_marraxo_(Isurus_oxyrinchus)_no_porto_pesqueiro_de_Vigo.jpg">José Antonio Gil Martínez</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The study also found increases in the proportion of sharks that are being fished beyond sustainable levels. But it’s particularly worrying that unreported catches weren’t included in the study’s analyses. This means the number of sharks and rays killed by fishing boats is likely to be an underestimate and the actual declines of these species may be even worse. Unlike most species of bony fish, sharks and rays produce few offspring and grow slowly. The rate at which they reproduce is clearly no match for current levels of industrialised fishing.</p>
<h2>Regulating the high seas</h2>
<p>Immediate and far-reaching action is needed to rebuild these populations. It’s clear that the rate of overfishing has outstripped the implementation of fisheries management measures and trade regulations. Since most oceanic sharks and rays are caught in the high seas – areas beyond national jurisdictions – agreements between fishing nations within management organisations are needed for conservation measures to work. </p>
<p>But, as this new study details, fishery limits imposed by management organisations of regional tuna fisheries – bodies tasked with managing oceanic sharks and ray populations – have been largely inadequate in following scientific advice. As recently as November 2020, the EU and US blocked a catch retention ban for North Atlantic shortfin mako sharks, despite <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6527/355">scientific evidence</a> clearly indicating that it was the first rung on a ladder to restoring this population of an endangered species.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Several hooks gathered together in a line." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380910/original/file-20210127-17-16s18rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380910/original/file-20210127-17-16s18rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380910/original/file-20210127-17-16s18rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380910/original/file-20210127-17-16s18rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380910/original/file-20210127-17-16s18rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380910/original/file-20210127-17-16s18rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380910/original/file-20210127-17-16s18rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Longline fishing deploys several hooks at once.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/longline-fishing-on-lofoten-islands-norway-1098959816">Lunghammer/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To begin the recovery of oceanic shark and ray populations, strict measures to prohibit landings of these species and to minimise their bycatch in other fisheries are needed immediately. This must be coupled with strict enforcement. Reducing the number of sharks and rays caught accidentally will be crucial but challenging, especially for longline fishing, which is not very selective and inadvertently catches lots of different species. This currently means that bans on intentional fishing are unlikely to be effective on their own. One solution would include modifying fishing gear and improving how fishers release sharks and rays after capture, to give them a better chance of survival.</p>
<p>An equally important measure, noted in the current study, would be banning fishing fleets from hotspots of oceanic sharks and rays. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1444-4">Research published in 2019</a> highlighted where these areas in the global ocean overlap with fishing vessels most. Led by the UN, negotiations are underway for a high seas treaty which would create no-take marine reserves to protect threatened species in the open ocean. This new study should urge the international community to take such action while there’s still time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154102/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Sims has received funding from NERC, ERC and the Save Our Seas Foundation. He is an elected member of Academia Europaea, a fellow of the Zoological Society of London, a professional member of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, a life member of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, and a council member of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles.</span></em></p>A high seas treaty could help rebuild populations – but time is running out.David Sims, Professor of Marine Ecology, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1396182020-06-08T04:58:22Z2020-06-08T04:58:22ZCatch-22: technology can help solve fishing’s environmental issues – but risks swapping one problem for another<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339940/original/file-20200604-67377-1gyj2oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/small-fishing-boat-floating-on-sea-398895235">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Almost a decade ago, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s <a href="https://www.rivercottage.net/campaigns/hughs-fish-fight">Fish Fight</a> campaign galvanised public opinion against the senseless waste of <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/fishing_rules/discards_en#:%7E:text=Discarding,catch%20composition%20rules%20impose%20this.">discarding fish</a>. At the time this was the common practice of returning unwanted catches to the sea, dead or alive, because fishermen were legally limited from landing them by the EU’s quota system.</p>
<p>The campaign was a success. By 2015, EU <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/fishing_rules/discards_en#:%7E:text=Landing%20obligation,landed%20and%20counted%20against%20quota.&text=From%202015%20to%202019%2C%20the,in%20across%20fisheries%20and%20species.">Landings Obligation legislation</a> was being phased in to put an to end the practice by forcing fishers to land catch they didn’t have a quota for but preventing them from selling it. In this way, the Landings Obligation was designed to give fishers a strong incentive to avoid catching unwanted fish.</p>
<p>But creating legislation can be relatively simple compared to the reality of implementing it. And there <a href="https://www.mcsuk.org/news/discarding_despite_laws">is evidence</a> that fish continue to be discarded illegally. More recently there has been an upsurge in interest in <a href="https://www.benchmarkplc.com/news/disruptive-technology-for-seafood-harvesting/">“disruptive” technologies</a> that could help reduce the problem. But there’s a risk that this could just introduce different environmental issues.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ZqdG6Zt164?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Traditional fishing nets can filter out small fish, but they do not discriminate between different species which is a problem in mixed fishing areas. For example, a North Sea fishing trip that has haddock as its target species, will inevitably also catch some cod, whiting or flatfish – the “bycatch” species that often falls foul of quota rules. </p>
<p>Previous technical solutions have concentrated on altering some aspect of the design of the fishing net, either by adding species separator panels or gaps through which smaller fish can escape. Some of these projects have had reasonable success, such as <a href="https://seafish.org/geardb/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/project_50_printed_final_report.pdf">Project 50%</a>, which reduced bycatch of fish and seabed creatures such as starfish in the UK.</p>
<p>But more researchers are now looking at the use of electric fields, lights and lasers to improve the selectivity and efficiency of fishing. Increasing selectivity would reduce the bycatch issue, while improving efficiency could reduce the amount of time fishers spend at sea to catch the same amount of fish.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340075/original/file-20200605-176580-ltizr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340075/original/file-20200605-176580-ltizr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340075/original/file-20200605-176580-ltizr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340075/original/file-20200605-176580-ltizr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340075/original/file-20200605-176580-ltizr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340075/original/file-20200605-176580-ltizr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340075/original/file-20200605-176580-ltizr1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Sumwing pulse trawl net.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michel Kaiser</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of all the recent innovations, the <a href="https://seafish.org/gear-database/gear/beam-trawl-pulse-trawl/#:%7E:text=The%20Dutch%20developed%20a%20system,drop%20back%20into%20the%20trawl.">Dutch “pulse trawl”</a> has attracted most media attention, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42692924">much of it negative</a>. Dutch scientists looked to exploit the muscular response of fish to the presence of an electric field. A momentary pulse of electric current causes fish to cramp their muscles, making them easier to catch in the following net.</p>
<p>Interestingly, fish size (meaning length) is related to the susceptibility of fish to the electric current, with smaller fish less likely to cramp than larger fish. Experimental trials showed that the new technique was highly selective for Dover sole, which was exactly what the Dutch fishers wanted to catch.</p>
<p>The method also reduced fuel consumption because of the slower towing speeds and reduced the amount of activity to catch the same or more fish. This meant the new technique was commercially viable. But was it environmentally acceptable?</p>
<h2>Effect on the marine environment</h2>
<p>In parallel, a comprehensive <a href="https://www.pulsefishing.eu/">science programme</a> was set up to look at the possible wider effects of using electric currents in the marine environment, to ensure that solving one problem had not created another. Sceptics suggested that electricity would negatively impact marine organisms. </p>
<p>But it now transpires that the majority of organisms exhibit minor or no effects in response to interaction with the electric field. The only exception is cod, for which <a href="https://www.ices.dk/news-and-events/news-archive/news/Pages/PulseTrawlAdvice.aspx">spinal injuries are more frequent</a>. Other effects on organisms or ecosystem responses seem to be relatively minor, based on <a href="https://www.pulsefishing.eu/documents">research</a> published so far. </p>
<p>Despite this huge investment in science to understand the potential wider ecosystem effects of pulse fishing, the conservationist <a href="https://www.bloomassociation.org/en/about-us/our-mission/">Bloom Association</a> ran an effective, though controversial, <a href="http://www.bloomassociation.org/en/our-actions/our-themes/electric-pulse-fishing/blooms-campaign/">campaign</a> to encourage the EU to ban the pulse trawl. They succeeded, although pulse trawlers can be used for research purposes, and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X18308819?via%3Dihub">fierce debate</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2020.103975">continues</a>.</p>
<p>It’s important to reflect on what can be learned from this episode. It started life with good intentions but ended in a war of words and a retrenchment to the less environmentally friendly beam trawling that pulse fishing was designed to replace.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-fishing-with-electricity-less-destructive-than-digging-up-the-seabed-with-beam-trawlers-89621">Is fishing with electricity less destructive than digging up the seabed with beam trawlers?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>More recently, the use of LED lights attached to escape panels on trawl nets has shown exciting promise to reduce fish bycatch. In one study, haddock and flatfish bycatches were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315420000028">reduced by 47% and 25%</a> respectively in nets that used the lights.</p>
<p>But we also know that light pollution has the potential to impact marine life. So at what point do we need to consider the implication of a global fleet of trawl nets towing lights through the water? Will societal considerations, environmental advocacy and scepticism also consign LED innovation to an outright ban?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340070/original/file-20200605-176585-ulfzfd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340070/original/file-20200605-176585-ulfzfd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340070/original/file-20200605-176585-ulfzfd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340070/original/file-20200605-176585-ulfzfd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340070/original/file-20200605-176585-ulfzfd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340070/original/file-20200605-176585-ulfzfd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340070/original/file-20200605-176585-ulfzfd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">LED lights attached to ‘escape panels’ on a trawl net helps reduce bycatch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucy Southworth</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is important that scientists and policy makers learn the lessons from the pulse trawl furore. A purely engineering approach misses out important social considerations. The pulse trawl is much lighter than the beam trawl it was designed to replace, and made softer seabed habitats accessible to the Dutch fleet for the first time. </p>
<p>But this put them in direct conflict with French and English fishers who had fished these areas for many years using lighter gill nets, tangle nets and pots. The ensuing outcry resulted in an <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/the-franco-dutch-fish-fight-over-electric-pulse-trawling">unlikely alliance</a> between French and English fishers and the conservationists.</p>
<p>To avoid future conflicts, we need an agreed best-practice set of guidelines for fishers and scientists to follow, that remind us that humans are part of the marine ecosystem. Changing fishing practices needs a broad consensus to be successful, rather than a purely technological solution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michel J. Kaiser receives funding from a wide variety of sources that include UK Government, Research Councils UK, Non-Governmental Organisations, Charities and seafood industry companies. He is the Chair of the independent International Science Advisory Committee for the Dutch Pulse Fishing project, and is on the advisory board of SafetyNet Technologies Ltd.</span></em></p>There are no easy solutions when it comes to environmental concerns about the European fishing industry. Often solving an issue means replacing one problem with another.Michel J. Kaiser, Chief Scientist, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1306212020-01-29T16:48:50Z2020-01-29T16:48:50ZHow we recruited albatrosses to patrol the high seas for illegal fishers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312442/original/file-20200129-93030-n5ntme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1125%2C5176%2C2320&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/flying-wandering-albatross-snowy-whitewinged-goonie-692981983">Reisegraf.ch/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wandering albatrosses have long been considered exceptional creatures. They can fly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022098113003602?via%3Dihub">8.5 million kilometres during their lifetimes</a> – the equivalent of flying to the Moon and back more than ten times. Their three-and-a-half-metre wing span is the same length as a small car and they can weigh as much as 24 puffins. Their body shape means they can effortlessly glide over the ocean waves, flying in some of the strongest winds on Earth. Now <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/01/21/1915499117">research</a> led by the Centre d'études biologiques de Chizé in France has found that these seabirds may have promising careers in the fight against overfishing. </p>
<p>Accidental bycatch in fishing lines and nets – when fishers unintentionally snare animals they weren’t trying to catch, like albatrosses – <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169534704002642">kills hundreds of thousands of birds and mammals each year</a>.</p>
<p>In the past few decades, countries have worked together to implement cross-border policies to directly address the causes of bycatch, particularly for albatrosses and petrels which have been <a href="https://www.acap.aq/en">severely affected</a>. With onboard human observers or electronic devices tracking activity, albatross <a href="https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/tracking-down-threats">bycatch rates have fallen dramatically</a> on monitored vessels. But what about illegal fishing boats? Military vessels and aeroplanes patrol the Southern Ocean looking for criminal fishers, but there are no observers or monitoring to ensure these boats are using methods to protect albatrosses, and without these, we know that bycatch rates are very high.</p>
<p>Boats that are legally fishing are generally registered and licensed, and so must adhere to laws regarding where and when they fish, and what and how much they can catch. Monitoring fishery activity around land masses is one thing, but beyond these limits, the open ocean is deemed international waters and doesn’t come under the jurisdiction of a single nation. Patrolling this enormous area by ship or air is rarely effective.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/small-scale-fisheries-have-unintended-consequences-on-tropical-marine-ecosystems-117270">Small-scale fisheries have unintended consequences on tropical marine ecosystems</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But what if there were 100 officers that could cover 10,000 kilometres each in a 30-day stretch? Meet the albatross ocean sentinels who patrol the seas for illegal fishers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312482/original/file-20200129-92949-1p6sfrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312482/original/file-20200129-92949-1p6sfrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312482/original/file-20200129-92949-1p6sfrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312482/original/file-20200129-92949-1p6sfrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312482/original/file-20200129-92949-1p6sfrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312482/original/file-20200129-92949-1p6sfrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312482/original/file-20200129-92949-1p6sfrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Seabirds are attracted to fishing boats, but can often become ensnared in nets and hooked on lines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fishing-boat-herrings-kaldfjord-tromso-norway-561192298">Alessandro De Maddalena/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The life of a sentinel</h2>
<p>Wandering albatrosses breed on remote islands around Antarctica. These are usually only accessible by boat, and researchers must brave the “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/furious-fifties">furious 50s</a>” of the Southern Ocean to get there, across some of the roughest seas in the world. </p>
<p>So many birds were dying as a result of getting caught in fishing lines that researchers started studying the overlap between albatrosses and fishing boats. Understanding where the birds came into contact with fisheries, and which birds followed boats the most, helped explain which parts of the population were most at risk of bycatch. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312434/original/file-20200129-92949-1anmkcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3888%2C2590&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312434/original/file-20200129-92949-1anmkcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312434/original/file-20200129-92949-1anmkcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312434/original/file-20200129-92949-1anmkcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312434/original/file-20200129-92949-1anmkcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312434/original/file-20200129-92949-1anmkcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312434/original/file-20200129-92949-1anmkcs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wandering albatrosses can form lifelong breeding pairs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Samantha Patrick</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Researchers mapped the distribution of boats using data transmitted from onboard monitoring systems, but these records are often only available around land and rarely in real time. Given the amount of time the birds spend in the open ocean, this meant that researchers had little idea of how many birds overlapped with fishing boats and for how long.</p>
<p>To address this problem, researchers developed loggers that could be <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12965">attached to an albatross</a>. The logger detects the radar of boats, collecting information on where boats are in real time. The loggers took years to perfect and I can still remember the excitement of getting the first one back that had successfully detected a boat’s radar. </p>
<p>The data showed how the sex, age or personality of each bird affected how likely the bird was to come into contact with fishing boats. For example, males tend to forage to the south, closer to Antarctica where fishing boats are rarer, while females forage further north, bringing them closer to the tropics and into contact with hotspots of fishing activity. Understanding this variation was the primary aim of the research, to help ecologists understand how deaths in subsections of the population can have dramatic effects on the population as a whole. But the loggers also provided bonus data that could transform fishery management and conservation in the open oceans.</p>
<p>Originally this work began to differentiate between fishing boats and other vessels, to test whether birds were more likely to be attracted to fishing boats. But when we combined the data collected by the loggers with a global map, we could see the location of all boats with an active Automatic Identification System (AIS). This radar allows vessels to detect each other, preventing collisions. But <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/01/21/1915499117">our study</a> found that over 20% of boats within French waters didn’t have their AIS on, rising to 35% in international waters. Since the AIS is intended to keep vessels safe, it’s likely that these vessels operating without it in international waters were doing so to avoid detection, and so could be fishing illegally.</p>
<p>The albatross data had unintentionally revealed the potential extent and scale of illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312448/original/file-20200129-92964-1gdtcp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312448/original/file-20200129-92964-1gdtcp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312448/original/file-20200129-92964-1gdtcp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312448/original/file-20200129-92964-1gdtcp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312448/original/file-20200129-92964-1gdtcp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312448/original/file-20200129-92964-1gdtcp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312448/original/file-20200129-92964-1gdtcp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Researchers were able to attach loggers to albatrosses by capturing them on islands where they breed in the Southern Ocean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Samantha Patrick</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s difficult to imagine a human patrol boat being able to cover enough area to efficiently track illegal fisheries. But each wandering albatross could potentially cover the same area of ocean as a boat, and when its logger detects a fishing boat with its AIS turned off, it can relay that information to the authorities, who can alert nearby vessels to investigate. </p>
<p>Data collection on this scale would not only improve our ability to detect and manage illegal fisheries, but also to identify high risk areas for conservation. This would help conserve fish stocks, protect albatrosses and other seabirds, and manage the marine ecosystem as a whole. As ocean sentinels, albatrosses have a unique ability to collect the data needed for their own conservation. Their pioneering role in animal-led data collection paves the way for other species to track the human activities that risk their persistence in the wild.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130621/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Patrick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scientists were struggling to keep track of illegal fishing in international waters and the seabirds it threatened. Then they had an idea.Samantha Patrick, Senior Lecturer in Marine Biology, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1007072018-08-29T22:54:18Z2018-08-29T22:54:18ZLessons for sustainable fisheries are hiding in plain sight<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233336/original/file-20180823-149493-y9si01.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A fisherman checks his fish corral nets in the Cau Hai lagoon, Vietnam.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mark-andrachuk-513600">Mark Andrachuk</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Small-scale fishers in Vietnam’s Cau Hai lagoon can’t easily access loans to upgrade or repair the fishing gear they urgently need. Some also want to invest in aquaculture supplies, but lack the start-up capital. </p>
<p>Fifteen years ago, one innovative fisher in the lagoon convinced his friends and neighbours to pool their capital to create a fund for micro-loans. Members could then borrow small sums for specific short-term needs. The fishing association with this micro-loan system is now the envy of neighbouring fishing communities. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature18607">Success stories like this are important</a>, but all too infrequent. Efforts to distil sustainability insights from <a href="https://theconversation.com/incubating-ideas-on-how-southern-africa-can-manage-the-anthropocene-69916">grassroots innovations</a> are growing in communities all over the world — and we need more. </p>
<p><a href="https://goodanthropocenes.net/">These “seeds” provide valuable insights</a> into how small communities and dedicated individuals can drive positive change. </p>
<p>We recently <a href="https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol23/iss2/art26/">published our research documenting the ways community-led innovation</a> helps move small-scale fisheries towards sustainability. Cataloguing these building blocks can help others lead changes in their own communities.</p>
<h2>Altering research orientations</h2>
<p>Concerns about the sustainability of fisheries are well-founded. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165783618301097">Recent estimates</a> confirm that small-scale fisheries — think small vessels (often unmotorized) and low-tech gear, not offshore trawlers — have important global economic value, but they are under threat. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229857/original/file-20180730-106514-yv1wfu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229857/original/file-20180730-106514-yv1wfu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229857/original/file-20180730-106514-yv1wfu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229857/original/file-20180730-106514-yv1wfu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229857/original/file-20180730-106514-yv1wfu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229857/original/file-20180730-106514-yv1wfu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229857/original/file-20180730-106514-yv1wfu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229857/original/file-20180730-106514-yv1wfu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fishermen checking lu (bottom trap) nets in the Cau Hai lagoon, Vietnam.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mark-andrachuk-513600">Mark Andrachuk</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We need a better understanding of how <a href="https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article/75/1/210/4091481">overfishing</a>, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2018.00052/full">bycatch (fish or other marine species caught unintentionally)</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320711000930">habitat damage</a> affect small-scale fisheries. This type of research confirms the urgent need for action, but it is problem-oriented and doesn’t tell us how to resolve challenges facing fisheries. </p>
<h2>Lessons from outliers</h2>
<p>Many of the fishers in the Cau Hai lagoon, the site of our research, are poor and make harvesting decisions that meet their basic needs. They sometimes use fishing gear that is highly effective but can also be destructive, even though they understand the consequences of their actions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229671/original/file-20180727-106530-kow4rf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229671/original/file-20180727-106530-kow4rf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229671/original/file-20180727-106530-kow4rf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229671/original/file-20180727-106530-kow4rf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229671/original/file-20180727-106530-kow4rf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229671/original/file-20180727-106530-kow4rf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229671/original/file-20180727-106530-kow4rf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A local fishing association leader took the authors on a tour to see fishing and aquaculture conditions in the Cau Hai lagoon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mark-andrachuk-513600">No reuse without permission of Mark Andrachuk</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We went looking for the successful outliers and found some common elements, including awareness of the value of ecological conservation, co-operation among fishers, local government support (police monitoring and enforcement of fishing bylaws), secure funding for fishing associations and good leadership.</p>
<p>The fishing association with the micro loans is an example of good leadership and innovative access to funding. </p>
<p>Another fishing association capitalized on communication and personal relationships. Its leader, well-regarded among fellow fishers, government agents and academics, has leveraged support from the local government by regularly attending village council meetings, where he tells local government officials about the issues fishers face, gaining their sympathy. </p>
<p>These may seem like obvious and simple actions, but they are not the norm in the Cau Hai lagoon. If other leaders were to replicate these actions, it would go a long way to securing more government support for enforcing fisheries bylaws. </p>
<h2>Building blocks</h2>
<p>Elements like these form the building blocks for a sustainable fishery in the Cau Hai lagoon, and they are likely to transform untenable conditions in other locations too.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229856/original/file-20180730-106524-8uqy8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229856/original/file-20180730-106524-8uqy8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229856/original/file-20180730-106524-8uqy8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229856/original/file-20180730-106524-8uqy8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229856/original/file-20180730-106524-8uqy8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229856/original/file-20180730-106524-8uqy8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229856/original/file-20180730-106524-8uqy8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229856/original/file-20180730-106524-8uqy8q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graphical representation of building blocks as a process leading to sustainability transformations.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The building blocks metaphor — steps along a pathway to sustainability — is also a reminder that there is no singular way to work towards sustainability.</p>
<p>Coastal communities will follow different paths in the pursuit of sustainability, but if we look carefully, we are likely to see the building blocks that matter most in each context. </p>
<h2>Universal value</h2>
<p>We can also apply this type of thinking to the Canadian context to improve fisheries policies and support communities. </p>
<p>Fisheries management in Atlantic Canada and British Columbia face ongoing challenges such as conflict, lost quotas, over-capacity and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/leblanc-fisheries-owner-operator-fleet-separation-law-1.4221716">tensions with owner-operator fleet separation</a>. </p>
<p>The building blocks approach offers a way of thinking about positive steps to work towards sustainability. We can think more about <a href="https://www.communityconservation.net/community-stories/">places and fisheries where they have had successes</a> with, for example, reducing bycatch or overfishing. </p>
<p>Sometimes lessons are hiding in plain sight. </p>
<p>There are many <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Governing-the-Coastal-Commons-Communities-Resilience-and-Transformation/Armitage-Charles-Berkes/p/book/9781138918436">communities</a> where individuals and groups are making positive changes to their livelihoods and ecosystems. We need to see Canadian and global fisheries from new perspectives and ask questions that help gather those lessons to build towards success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100707/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Andrachuk received funding from International Development Research Centre and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to support this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Armitage receives funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hoang Dung Ha works for the faculty of Extension and Rural development, Hue university of Agriculture and Forestry, Vietnam. Now he receives funding from VIED - UoN to study Phd at The University of Newcastle, Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Blythe receives funding from Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Le Van Nam works for Faculty of Extension and Rural Development, and Centre for Community Development in University of Agriculture and Forestry (HUAF), Hue University, Vietnam. He receives funding from HUAF. </span></em></p>When it comes to small-scale fisheries, there is no one route to sustainability. Finding success stories can help map those paths.Mark Andrachuk, Postdoctoral Fellow, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaDerek Armitage, Professor, University of WaterlooHoang Dung Ha, Lecturer, Hue University of Agriculture and ForestryJessica Blythe, Assistant Professor, Brock UniversityLe Van Nam, Lecturer, Hue University of Agriculture and ForestryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/918022018-02-23T13:09:30Z2018-02-23T13:09:30ZSmall-scale fisheries are throwing away fish that could feed those in poverty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207494/original/file-20180222-152363-x973r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Waste not, want not.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin Jones</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At least <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2005.00177.x">7.3m tons</a> of fish (usually dead or dying) are thought to be discarded each year from marine fisheries around the world. But these estimates come mostly from observations of large-scale industrial fisheries. Limited attention has been paid to small-scale fisheries, which are assumed to have low discard rates – some estimate <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/y5936e/y5936e00.htm">as little as 3.7% total catch</a>, compared to more than 60% for some large-scale shrimp trawlers. </p>
<p>Small-scale or artisanal fisheries – for which there is no universal definition – are generally considered more sustainable than their large-scale industrial counterparts, but there is increasing evidence that shows this is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982207010639">not always the case</a>. They employ more than <a href="http://www.fao.org/fishery/ssf/people/en">99% of the world’s 51m fishers</a> and likely account for more than half of the <a href="http://www.fao.org/family-farming/themes/small-scale-fisheries/en/">total global fisheries catches</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207293/original/file-20180221-132674-1kaicdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207293/original/file-20180221-132674-1kaicdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207293/original/file-20180221-132674-1kaicdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207293/original/file-20180221-132674-1kaicdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207293/original/file-20180221-132674-1kaicdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207293/original/file-20180221-132674-1kaicdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207293/original/file-20180221-132674-1kaicdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207293/original/file-20180221-132674-1kaicdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Sri Lankan fisherman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin Jones</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the biggest problems for both large and small-scale fisheries around the globe is bycatch – fish and other marine organisms caught when the fishers are targeting something else. Powerful images of turtles and dolphins caught in fishing gear have caught the sympathy of the general public, but unintentional landings of fish aren’t as evocative. The truth is, however, that fish bycatch is a big issue. </p>
<p>Progress is being made in Europe <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/fishing_rules/discards_en">within large-scale fisheries</a> thanks to campaigns such as the <a href="http://www.fishfight.net/">Fish Fight</a>. But small-scale fisheries – though there is increasing recognition outside that they are “<a href="http://toobigtoignore.net/">too big to ignore</a>” – are only just beginning to recognise the fish bycatch and discard problem.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207292/original/file-20180221-132670-1nmatwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207292/original/file-20180221-132670-1nmatwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207292/original/file-20180221-132670-1nmatwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207292/original/file-20180221-132670-1nmatwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207292/original/file-20180221-132670-1nmatwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207292/original/file-20180221-132670-1nmatwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207292/original/file-20180221-132670-1nmatwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207292/original/file-20180221-132670-1nmatwg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catch and bycatch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin Jones</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our newly published research has found that artisanal fisheries in Sri Lanka are <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2018.00052/full">throwing away more marine species than they keep</a>. For every fishing trip in one of Sri Lanka’s largest lagoons, Puttalam Lagoon, fishermen could be throwing away more than 50 fish. What’s more, of the 62 species recorded in the survey, more than 80% were routinely discarded. The reasons for this practice are unclear but sometimes it is because the individual fish are too small – or they are species without a high market value.</p>
<p>We found that fishers targeting shrimp in particular caught more non-target species and had higher discards than those targeting fish. This is particularly worrying at a time when Sri Lankan shrimp exports are increasing, after the EU granted the country <a href="http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1663">improved access to its market</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206258/original/file-20180213-44647-1q7rwfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206258/original/file-20180213-44647-1q7rwfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206258/original/file-20180213-44647-1q7rwfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206258/original/file-20180213-44647-1q7rwfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206258/original/file-20180213-44647-1q7rwfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206258/original/file-20180213-44647-1q7rwfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206258/original/file-20180213-44647-1q7rwfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206258/original/file-20180213-44647-1q7rwfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fishers in Puttalam Lagoon discard non-target catch onshore.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin Jones</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Potentially 90% of the world’s fish stocks are <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5555e.pdf">threatened by over-fishing</a> – when more fish are caught than the population can replace. And the “tell-tale” signs of over-fishing are now being observed in Sri Lanka and across other research sites in the Indo-Pacific region. Fishers in these locations have told us and other researchers that they are catching much less fish than they were five years ago.</p>
<p>But this is not just an ecological issue, it is a social one too. In this era of increasing food insecurity, our findings highlight a serious concern for Sri Lanka. This unwanted seafood could be used to provide protein for the poorest in society. Instead, we found that fish with high nutritional value is being eaten by feral dogs and birds. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206309/original/file-20180213-175001-7bwauv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206309/original/file-20180213-175001-7bwauv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206309/original/file-20180213-175001-7bwauv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206309/original/file-20180213-175001-7bwauv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206309/original/file-20180213-175001-7bwauv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206309/original/file-20180213-175001-7bwauv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206309/original/file-20180213-175001-7bwauv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/206309/original/file-20180213-175001-7bwauv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unwanted fish end up as quick and easy meals for animals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin Jones</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Billions of people worldwide rely daily on fish for protein, while 50m people also rely on catching fish for work. But, if the levels of bycatch and discard continue, the livelihoods and food security of the people that depend on these fisheries will be under threat. If the problem is not managed, there won’t be any fish left in the waters.</p>
<p>There is one ray of hope for Sri Lanka, however. There are some <a href="http://www.fao.org/policy-support/resources/resources-details/en/c/426988/">small-scale fishery cooperatives</a> which maximise long-term community benefits by dealing with the threats of fisheries mismanagement, livelihood insecurity and poverty. Communities with successful and inclusive cooperatives are better off than those without. Cooperatives have the potential to empower small-scale fishers against environmental and socioeconomic shocks, but the problem in Puttalam Lagoon is that these cooperatives are not operating across all levels of society.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207283/original/file-20180221-132642-29xcdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207283/original/file-20180221-132642-29xcdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207283/original/file-20180221-132642-29xcdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207283/original/file-20180221-132642-29xcdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207283/original/file-20180221-132642-29xcdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207283/original/file-20180221-132642-29xcdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207283/original/file-20180221-132642-29xcdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207283/original/file-20180221-132642-29xcdo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fishing cooperatives do exist, but there could be more.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin Jones</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If the bycatch and discards issue is going to be solved over the long-term, we need to look at combining sustainable management practices with community schemes to reduce unnecessary seafood waste all over the world. Together the millions of small-scale fishers all over the world have an immense amount of power, they just need to realise it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin L. Jones is a founding director of the conservation charity Project Seagrass.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leanne Cullen-Unsworth is a director of the conservation charity Project Seagrass.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard K.F. Unsworth is a founding director of the conservation charity Project Seagrass.</span></em></p>Artisanal fishers in Sri Lanka are throwing away more marine species than they keep.Benjamin L.H. Jones, Research Associate, Cardiff UniversityLeanne Cullen-Unsworth, Research Fellow, Cardiff UniversityRichard K.F. Unsworth, Research Officer, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/896212018-01-08T15:52:35Z2018-01-08T15:52:35ZIs fishing with electricity less destructive than digging up the seabed with beam trawlers?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200998/original/file-20180105-26172-f4swa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cod and other fish may be unintentionally caught by pulse trawlers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fresh-catch-fish-cod-383619949?src=RCtR2bx0MNyZBGdL7QUO2g-1-0">saltmedia/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While many people may be interested in the sustainability and welfare of the fish they eat, or the health of the environment, fewer probably worry about the effect that trawl fishing – which accounts for <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/114/31/8301.full">20% of landings</a> – has on the ocean.</p>
<p>For a long time researchers and the industry have been trying to improve trawl fishing practices. Things have moved on from practices such as beam trawling – where a large net is dragged across the ocean floor – to potentially less invasive and newer methods like electric pulse trawling. This sees electrical pulses being sent into the seawater to flush out bottom-dwelling fish like plaice and sole, causing them to swim into the path of trawl nets. </p>
<p>Beam trawls have been the focus of environmental concern for decades, as it <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/114/31/8301.short">causes a substantial reduction</a> in the abundance of animals living on the seabed. These effects <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28716926">can be long lasting</a> if the fishing occurs in areas which are inhabited by long-lived seabed dwelling species such as oysters and sponges. Beam trawls are also associated with high amounts of bycatch – unwanted fish and other organisms – although the industry and researchers are working on <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479709003399?via%3Dihub">ways to reduce this</a>.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article-abstract/35/2/165/695990?redirectedFrom=fulltext">the relatively newer</a> electric pulse fishing is not necessarily a perfect solution either. Though it does not dig into the seabed to the same extent as traditional beam trawling, <a href="http://www.nsrac.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Paper-7.4-Flatfish-Pulse-Trawls-For-info.pdf">research has found</a> it can fatally injure other species which may not be the target catch. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201109/original/file-20180108-83559-zepakx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201109/original/file-20180108-83559-zepakx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201109/original/file-20180108-83559-zepakx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201109/original/file-20180108-83559-zepakx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201109/original/file-20180108-83559-zepakx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201109/original/file-20180108-83559-zepakx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201109/original/file-20180108-83559-zepakx.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An electric trawler beam and net.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michel Kaiser</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So why use this method if it still has its faults? High fuel costs <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/fishing_rules/discards_en">and EU legislation</a> which has reduced the discarding fish at sea, have renewed interest in the use of electricity in fishing. Across the world, millions are fed by the fish caught by trawlers so it is unrealistic for trawling to just be stopped altogether, but the variety of negative impacts on the marine ecosystem remain a cause for concern.</p>
<h2>For and against</h2>
<p>The UK government recently <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trawlers-using-electric-shock-kill-anything-with-a-pulse-2ttnnq7f9">announced an review</a> into the use of electric pulses by foreign trawlers in British waters due to concerns about its potential effects on the environment and bycatch. Campaign groups have also called on the EU to reinstate a ban on the electrical pulse method, calling it “<a href="http://www.bloomassociation.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/electric-fishing-letter-to-EU-COM.pdf">destructive</a>”. </p>
<p>The current pulse trawls are fine-tuned to catch larger fish (the spine of the fish acts as a conductor), so that bigger fish respond more strongly to the electric stimulus and are more likely to be caught in the nets. This reduces catch of unwanted species that are less likely to respond to the electric pulse, and also reduces contact with the seabed. </p>
<p>Traditional beam trawls, on the other hand, are fitted with heavy “tickler chains” – horizontal chains strung across the mouth of the trawl – designed to “dig” fish like Dover sole out of the seabed. Soles curl into a “c” shape in response to the electric stimulation used by pulse trawls, so they can be caught without the use of these “tickler chains”.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201194/original/file-20180108-83547-l5f9t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201194/original/file-20180108-83547-l5f9t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201194/original/file-20180108-83547-l5f9t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201194/original/file-20180108-83547-l5f9t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201194/original/file-20180108-83547-l5f9t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201194/original/file-20180108-83547-l5f9t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201194/original/file-20180108-83547-l5f9t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201194/original/file-20180108-83547-l5f9t.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A beam trawl with tickler chains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michel Kaiser</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Dispensing with the chains means that the gear is lighter, creates less disruption of the seabed, and substantially reduces the amount of other seabed organisms caught – by <a href="http://www.nsrac.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Paper-7.4-Flatfish-Pulse-Trawls-For-info.pdf">75-80% per unit area</a> of the seabed fished. By not catching the unwanted species, this improves the quality of landed catch too, because skin abrasion is reduced in the net. Together, improved catch quality and the reduced fuel consumption means greater profitability for the fishermen. </p>
<p>Electric pulse seems like a good idea from this perspective, but <a href="http://bit.ly/2Awfbr5">studies of its effects</a> on other species of fish – that are not the intended catch – show that larger cod in particular are prone to spinal fractures when in contact with the electric pulses. Small cod appear to be unaffected. Cod typically have a low survival rate if they are unintentionally caught in most trawls, so this issue of spinal fracture may be irrelevant if they are caught using either method. </p>
<p>Additionally, though <a href="http://www.nsrac.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Paper-7.4-Flatfish-Pulse-Trawls-For-info.pdf">fewer seabed organisms</a> end up in the trawl net when using electricity compared to traditional beam trawling, it is too early to tell whether the creatures remaining on the seabed are affected negatively by contact with the electric stimuli. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article/72/3/973/691591">Aquarium experiments</a>, have shown that worms and shrimps, for example, recover within seconds following the application of an electric shock. However, these controlled laboratory experiments take place without natural predators – that may take advantage of a shocked creature – present. </p>
<p>The issues here are not solely environmental. The pulse trawl fleet has encroached on grounds that historically were fished by fishermen using low impact netting methods, leading to some resentment and conflict with others in the fishing community. </p>
<p>Societal acceptance of any food production method is vital, and at present – for pulse trawling – this is a greater challenge than answering the ecological questions. This issue could be resolved by more formal zoning of the sea so that pulse trawling is restricted to areas that do not impinge upon traditional low impact fisheries – initiatives which are currently in negotiation.</p>
<p>Taking both society and environment into account, electric pulse trawling may not be an infallible solution, but it might a better way of trawling than the use of traditional forms of beam trawling.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89621/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michel Kaiser is the Chair of the International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) for the Dutch pulse trawling project. The ISAC is an independent body whose function is to scrutinise the science undertaken as part of this project. </span></em></p>An expert reviews the research for and against the use of electric pulse trawlers.Michel J. Kaiser, Chair of Marine Conservation Ecology, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/883082017-11-30T19:05:39Z2017-11-30T19:05:39ZPenguins under threat from drowning in fishing nets<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197070/original/file-20171130-12029-4drhxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bycatch: penguins can easily drown in nets designed to ensnare fish.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">NZ Ministry of Fisheries</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fishing nets pose a serious risk to the survival of penguin species, according to a new global review of the toll taken by “bycatch” from commercial fishing. Fourteen of the world’s 18 penguin species have been recorded as fishing bycatch.</p>
<p>Among the species under threat are Tasmania’s <a href="https://australianmuseum.net.au/little-penguin-eudyptula-minor">little penguins</a> and New Zealand’s <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697800/0">yellow-eyed penguins</a>, as detailed in a review, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00869">published in the journal Endangered Species Research</a>.</p>
<p>The review shows the level of bycatch is of greatest concern for three species: Humboldt and Magellanic penguins, both found in South America, and the endangered New Zealand yellow-eyed penguins. </p>
<p>On New Zealand’s South Island, yellow-eyed penguins are down to fewer than 250 nests. Previous population strongholds have declined by more than 75%. <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/3272/">Conservative population models</a> predict local extinction of yellow-eyed penguins by 2060, if not earlier. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/shrinking-antarctic-glaciers-could-make-adelie-penguins-unlikely-winners-of-climate-change-50851">Shrinking Antarctic glaciers could make Adélie penguins unlikely winners of climate change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Penguins are among the world’s most iconic and loved birds, despite the fact that many people never get to see one in the wild. Indeed, the opportunities to do so are diminishing, with ten of the 18 penguin species <a href="http://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/protect-penguin-today">threatened with extinction</a>. After albatrosses, penguins are the most threatened group of seabirds. And, like albatrosses, bycatch is thought to be a serious issue for some species.</p>
<p>On land, many penguins are now well protected, thanks to the efforts of conservation researchers, government agencies, community groups and tourism operators. Where many penguins were once vulnerable to attack from introduced predators, or to habitat loss from farming or development, today the biggest worry for many penguin chicks is how to get more food out of their parents.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FFIrUujDGK4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Time to eat yet?</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But below the waves it’s a different story. Over thousands of years, these keen-eyed seabirds have evolved to catch food in the depths, while avoiding natural predators such as seals and sharks. But they cannot see the superfine nylon fishing nets invented in the 1950s which fishers now set in penguin foraging areas.</p>
<p>Little penguins, whose scientific name <em>Eudyptula minor</em> literally means “good little diver”, typically forage in the upper 20 metres of the ocean, with each dive lasting about 90 seconds. The larger yellow-eyed penguin – <em>Megadyptes antipodes</em>, the “big diver of the south” – prefers to hunt on the seafloor some 80-90m down, holding their breath for 2-3 minutes before coming up for air. If they do not encounter a fishing net, that is.</p>
<p>Gillnets (also called set nets) in particular are very dangerous for penguins. These nets are set in a stationary position rather than being dragged through the water. They are designed to catch fish around their gills, but can just as easily snare a penguin around its neck.</p>
<p>If it gets tangled in a net, a penguin will panic and drown in minutes. In Tasmania, nets with more than 50 drowned little penguins have been found washed ashore. Other penguins are found on beaches with characteristic bruising from net entanglement around their necks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197099/original/file-20171130-30919-i2cs9w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197099/original/file-20171130-30919-i2cs9w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197099/original/file-20171130-30919-i2cs9w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197099/original/file-20171130-30919-i2cs9w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197099/original/file-20171130-30919-i2cs9w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197099/original/file-20171130-30919-i2cs9w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197099/original/file-20171130-30919-i2cs9w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197099/original/file-20171130-30919-i2cs9w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nets are deadly to little penguins.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eric Woehler</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When a penguin is killed at sea, this has knock-on effects back at the nest. The chicks will die of hunger or fledge underweight, with little chance of surviving their first year at sea. </p>
<p>The breeding partner left behind will probably skip a breeding season; some penguins never find another partner after losing their mate. I have seen them calling plaintively from their nest, or even going down to the shore in the evening to look out to sea, before returning to their nest all alone.</p>
<h2>Declining numbers</h2>
<p>In New Zealand, the endangered yellow-eyed penguin is declining. <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/3272/">Current population models</a> predict their extinction on the New Zealand mainland by 2060, or potentially even earlier. Yellow-eyed penguins are facing many threats mostly because they are simply living too close to humans.</p>
<p>Whereas threats on land are reasonably well managed, threats at sea need urgent attention. Marine habitat degradation by industries that damage the seafloor will take decades to recover. Similarly, pressures from climate change will not have a quick enough fix to save yellow-eyed penguins from local extinction.</p>
<p>There is one thing, however, we can change immediately: the needless death of penguins in fishing nets. This will give already struggling penguin populations a bit of a breather and maybe even the resilience required to deal with the many threats they face in their daily fight for survival.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-behaviour-leaves-antarctic-penguins-on-the-shelf-21849">New behaviour leaves Antarctic penguins on the shelf</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Judging by the number of penguins washed ashore with net injuries, many fishers simply discard penguins’ carcasses at sea rather than reporting bycatch or working towards solutions to mitigate it.</p>
<p>Do we really want penguins to drown for our treat of fish and chips? Less destructive fishing methods are available that do not cause penguin bycatch and the death of other protected species. </p>
<p>But these more selective fishing methods would require fishers to change gear, which costs money. Currently, there is very little legal or commercial incentive for fishers to do anything about penguin bycatch. </p>
<p>But there are a couple of things you can do. Please do not just buy any fish with your chips – ask which species it is and how it has been caught. You can use a sustainable seafood guide, such as New Zealand’s <a href="http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/what-we-%20do/publications/-best-%20fish-guide">Best Fish Guide</a> or Australia’s <a href="http://www.sustainableseafood.org.au/">Sustainable Seafood Guide</a>. That way you can help the penguins snag a safe fish supper of their own.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ursula Ellenberg receives small research grants from the Global Penguin Society and several other organisations as detailed on our project webpage <a href="http://www.tawaki-project.org/">http://www.tawaki-project.org/</a>
</span></em></p>Penguins in New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere face an uncertain future as a new review documents the number accidentally ensnared in fishing nets.Ursula Ellenberg, Honorary Lecturer, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/835602017-10-12T22:01:26Z2017-10-12T22:01:26ZHere’s why your sustainable tuna is also unsustainable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190037/original/file-20171012-31408-v1oycx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=616%2C1039%2C3084%2C1439&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not all tuna are caught using sustainable methods. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tuna is one of the most ubiquitous seafoods. It can be eaten from a can or as high-end sashimi and in many forms in between. But some species are over-fished and some fishing methods are unsustainable. How do you know which type of tuna you’re eating?</p>
<p>Some tuna is certified as sustainably caught by groups such as the <a href="https://www.msc.org/">Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)</a> that set standards for sustainable fishing. But these certifications are only good if they are credible. </p>
<p>In late August, several media outlets published stories about <a href="http://www.onthehook.org.uk/">On the Hook</a>, a new campaign by a consortium of retailers and academics who have taken issue with some fishing practices allowed by the MSC. As a university professor whose research focuses on private seafood governance, including certifications and traceability, and fisheries policy, I am deeply familiar with <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X15002870">the issues at hand</a>. I support the campaign, but don’t stand to gain from the outcome.</p>
<p>The Western and Central Pacific skipjack tuna fishery is one of the world’s biggest. Some of the tuna caught here carries the MSC’s blue label, identifying it as the best environmental choice for consumers. But the same boats making that sustainable catch may also use unsustainable methods to catch unsustainable fish on the same day. </p>
<p>The On the Hook coalition sees this as at odds with the MSC certification, as do I. Yes, sustainable and unsustainable fish can be separated; there are people on board whose sole job is to do this. But rewarding fishermen for their sustainable catch, while allowing them to fish unsustainably, dupes consumers into supporting companies that take part in bad behaviour. </p>
<h2>Does sorting work?</h2>
<p>The On the Hook campaign singles out one fishery in particular: the “purse seine” fishery in the tropical western Pacific Ocean. This fishery covers the waters of eight island nations, including Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Under the <a href="https://www.pnatuna.com/">Nauru Agreement</a>, these nations, usually referred to as the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), collectively control access to about one quarter of the world’s tuna supply. </p>
<p>Fishermen can use nets to catch free-swimming adult tuna and earn MSC certification for their catch. But these same fishermen can also use fish aggregating devices (FADs) — instruments that attract all kinds of marine life, including adult tuna, juvenile tuna and hundreds of species of sharks, turtles and other fish — to net their catch. Fishing on FADs is faster and less costly, but these devices are associated with <a href="http://www.sustunable.com/bycatch.html">high levels of bycatch</a>, one of the main sustainability concerns in many fisheries. Fishing on FADs does not earn MSC certification.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189793/original/file-20171011-9741-1wedzv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189793/original/file-20171011-9741-1wedzv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189793/original/file-20171011-9741-1wedzv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189793/original/file-20171011-9741-1wedzv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189793/original/file-20171011-9741-1wedzv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189793/original/file-20171011-9741-1wedzv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189793/original/file-20171011-9741-1wedzv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fish aggregating devices attract ocean-going fish such as tuna.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Under normal operations, the fishermen use both methods. “Compartmentalization” is a technique that allows the unsustainable portion of the fish to be separated on board the vessel from the sustainable portion. This is supposed to provide assurance to consumers that they are making a sustainable choice. Yet the negative environmental impacts connected to FAD fishing operations should surely also be considered in an MSC assessment. Currently, this does not happen. </p>
<p>Compartmentalization remains necessary because there isn’t enough of an economic advantage for companies to make only sustainable catches. It costs fishermen more to fish sustainably because they have to find the tuna, instead of waiting for it to come to the FAD. </p>
<p>A fleet using both methods can be part of a higher value premium market and earn financial security from the high volume, yet unsustainable, fishery. If purse-seining tuna vessels need to subsidize their sustainable fishing with unsustainable practices, then MSC certification has not provided the incentive it set out to.</p>
<h2>A holistic fishery</h2>
<p>Millions of tonnes of tuna have been fished from the waters of the Western and Central Pacific fishery. But the countries controlling these waters have not benefited to a large extent, mostly due to a lack of cooperation in bargaining for benefits, which allowed distant nations to exploit the fishery.</p>
<p>In the past decade, these Pacific Island states have increased their bargaining power in regional negotiations by implementing a scheme that controls the number of boats that can enter their waters. Under the program, called the vessel day scheme (VDS), these countries can now <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X15002870">charge higher fees to boats that want access</a>. </p>
<p>For example, PNA countries used to extract between three per cent and six per cent of the value of tuna fishery in their waters. Since their bargaining power has increased, they can now extract more than 14 per cent of the value, and this number is likely to continue to rise. </p>
<p>This is no small accomplishment for these Pacific Island nations, and other coastal state collectives are now trying to emulate their success. But this does not mean that all of the practices they allow are commendable, including those that are not representative of the “best environmental choice” in seafood. </p>
<p>On my Facebook feed, a colleague recently commented: “A Pacific Islander owned sustainably certified fishery is the wrong target.” </p>
<p>Let me clear up this misconception. The On the Hook campaign is not targeting the PNA, but the MSC. It would like the MSC to delay the recertification — authorized by the accreditation body in September — of the PNA fishery until the compartmentalization practice has been addressed. The fishery needs to be considered holistically.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189792/original/file-20171011-9733-18a6kze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189792/original/file-20171011-9733-18a6kze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189792/original/file-20171011-9733-18a6kze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189792/original/file-20171011-9733-18a6kze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189792/original/file-20171011-9733-18a6kze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189792/original/file-20171011-9733-18a6kze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189792/original/file-20171011-9733-18a6kze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A school of tuna.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwshq/8427451274">(United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization/Danilo Cedrone)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, the MSC could specify that to earn a certification, a boat cannot fish sustainably and unsustainably on the same fishing trip. Consumer dollars should not be supporting the very practices the MSC condemns. </p>
<p>Another colleague remarked that because the PNA is challenging big industry, the On the Hook campaign might benefit big industry and hurt the PNA. In fact, it is the same boats, the same fleet, the same companies that are fishing MSC-certified tuna and on FADs. </p>
<h2>Muddy waters</h2>
<p>My colleagues also worry that the campaign calls into question the credibility of the MSC label. But this has actually become commonplace, with many groups pointing at examples of certified fisheries that are not sustainable. For example, the WWF has recommended that <a href="https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/environment-sustainability/mexican-tuna-fishery-certified-by-msc-over-wwf-objections">seafood buyers should stay away</a> from MSC-certified Mexican tuna. </p>
<p>I would argue that the MSC is tarnishing itself by normalizing the practice of compartmentalization. It is no longer clear that fish carrying the MSC label offer the best environmental choice. Many Canadian fisheries, like lobster, herring, and Atlantic redfish, are MSC-certified. The faltering credibility of the MSC is a major risk for Canadian fish harvesters who rely on the MSC label to communicate their good fishing practices. </p>
<p>Additionally, Canadian consumers who are used to searching for the blue MSC check mark when they shop for seafood can no longer do so thinking that the logo conveys accurate information. Consumers need to know that the waters are muddy, that seafood sustainability is a moving target, and that it is not easy to make the right choice when standing in the aisle at the supermarket. </p>
<p>Governments and businesses need to make that choice easier for consumers. And they could start by dealing with compartmentalization in the PNA fishery — and elsewhere. </p>
<p>The PNA countries could also make demands. They could allow access rights only to vessels that agree to drop the practice of compartmentalization and that are transparent about their fishing practices. </p>
<p>More than anything, the MSC needs to take a good look at itself and remember what it is supposed to represent — the best environmental choice — not consumer confusion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83560/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan Bailey is affiliated with the International Pole and Line Foundation, serving in a volunteer capacity on the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee. </span></em></p>Are consumers being duped into thinking they are supporting a sustainable fishery?Megan Bailey, Assistant Professor, Canada Research Chair, Integrated Ocean and Coastal Governance, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/822102017-09-04T20:09:22Z2017-09-04T20:09:22ZNew Zealand’s fisheries quota management system: on an undeserved pedestal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183397/original/file-20170825-18691-8sbolb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Snapper is one of the fish under New Zealand's Quota Management system.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In popular imagination, New Zealand’s fisheries management system is a globally recognised story of sustainability, reflecting a “clean and green” environmental ethos. </p>
<p>Indeed, New Zealand’s fisheries have been ranked among the best managed in the world - an accolade based on the early and wholehearted adoption of a <a href="https://fs.fish.govt.nz/Page.aspx?pk=81&tk=248">Quota Management System</a> (QMS). </p>
<p>This perception is echoed in a recently published <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/114/1/178.abstract?sid=2a12610d-865b-4698-a388-c72a9c7c58bc">article</a>, but we <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/114/25/E4901.extract?sid=3072a47e-5e48-4f8a-a16a-b0e8be850031">take issue</a> with the methodology and its conclusions. Claims that New Zealand’s QMS is an unmitigated success simply do not match the facts. </p>
<h2>How New Zealand’s QMS works</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183404/original/file-20170825-18734-tqdvsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183404/original/file-20170825-18734-tqdvsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183404/original/file-20170825-18734-tqdvsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183404/original/file-20170825-18734-tqdvsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183404/original/file-20170825-18734-tqdvsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183404/original/file-20170825-18734-tqdvsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183404/original/file-20170825-18734-tqdvsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scallops are among the species managed by the QMS.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fundamental idea behind the QMS is that fishers own (or lease) the right to catch a certain proportion (quota) of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of a certain species of fish. These quotas can be freely traded. Market forces are assumed to achieve economically optimal outcomes. </p>
<p>The TAC is set via an assessment process incorporating biological data and fisheries information, where available. The TAC is supposed to ensure sustainability.</p>
<p>New Zealand is committed to the most comprehensive QMS, more so than any other fishing nation. The system is a seductively straightforward solution to control commercial fishing effort. </p>
<p>Currently, TACs are set for more than 640 fish stocks, and represent around 620,000 tonnes of fish. But not all stocks undergo an <a href="https://fs.fish.govt.nz/Page.aspx?pk=16">empirical stock assessment</a>. </p>
<p>Because proposals for downward change usually meet resistance from the fishing industry, changing a TAC requires a persuasive case. Most have not changed in response to either over catching or under catching (a consequence of budgetary constraints and political lobbying by powerful quota owners). </p>
<p>From a TAC, allowances are made for customary catch by Māori, recreational fishing and other mortality caused by fishing, for example through poaching. The remainder is the total allowable commercial catch (TACC), which is divided among the quota owners in the form of Annual Catch Entitlements (ACE). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183406/original/file-20170825-28115-8b3hdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183406/original/file-20170825-28115-8b3hdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183406/original/file-20170825-28115-8b3hdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183406/original/file-20170825-28115-8b3hdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183406/original/file-20170825-28115-8b3hdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183406/original/file-20170825-28115-8b3hdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183406/original/file-20170825-28115-8b3hdv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Red snapper at Auckland’s fish market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Trading quota vs catching fish</h2>
<p>When fishers do not have enough ACE to cover their catch, they must either buy more or pay a penalty to the government. Both quota and ACE can be bought, sold and leased. One of the unfortunate consequences of the QMS is that more money is made through trading ACE than actually catching the fish. Unsurprisingly, this empowers quota owners at the expense of fishers.</p>
<p>In our <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/114/25/E4901.extract?sid=3072a47e-5e48-4f8a-a16a-b0e8be850031">rebuttal</a> to the original article, we point out that <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/83684122/crayfish-functionally-extinct-in-the-hauraki-gulf">fish stocks are nowhere near as healthy as suggested</a>. There is a <a href="http://docs.niwa.co.nz/library/public/1877264229C.pdf">lack of scientific data</a> to correctly run the QMS. Three quarters of fish stocks have no formal or detailed assessment, and very few have independent research surveys. </p>
<p>Most assessments rely on industry self-reported catch and effort data, rather than independent surveys. This is a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00182340">dangerous strategy</a>, as shown by the collapse of the Canadian Newfoundland Cod stocks in 1992. At that time, fisheries managers chose to believe industry data showing increasing catch per unit effort, rather than scientific surveys suggesting precipitous decline.</p>
<h2>Wider ecosystems effects ignored</h2>
<p>Funding for stock assessments has significantly decreased; it is about 45% of the levels in the early 1990s while the number of fish stocks in the QMS has increased 3.5-fold.</p>
<p>The broader environmental effects of commercial fishing on biodiversity, endangered species, seafloor habitats and the very ecosystem that supports the fish on which fisheries depend, are becoming increasingly obvious. Even so, little research targets these impacts. New Zealand’s QMS is a data hungry beast and it is starving. </p>
<p>As with all markets, not all behaviours that are incentivised are virtuous. There is money to be made or saved by dumping catches for which ACE is unavailable or too expensive, from poaching and falsifying catch returns. These behaviours have seriously <a href="http://www.seaaroundus.org/doc/publications/wp/2016/Simmons_2016.pdf">distorted New Zealand’s catch data for decades</a>. This includes massive dumping of unwanted catch and under-reported bycatch, including <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=NOAA-NMFS-2016-0118-0076">endangered dolphins and sealions</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/things-fall-apart-why-do-the-ecosystems-we-depend-on-collapse-71491">Things fall apart: why do the ecosystems we depend on collapse?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Compounding this is the low level of onboard observer coverage (about 8.4% in offshore fisheries and less than 1% inshore) and the lack of <a href="https://mpi.govt.nz/protection-and-response/environment-and-natural-resources/sustainable-fisheries/independent-review-of-prosecution-decisions/">effective enforcement</a>. An <a href="https://mpi.govt.nz/news-and-resources/media-releases/mpi-accepts-findings-of-independent-review-into-fisheries-compliance-operations/">independent review</a> of New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) handling of illegal fish and dolphin dumping revealed industry capture of the regulator, involving flawed processes and inappropriate conduct. </p>
<p>A senior MPI manager <a>admitted</a> that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… discarding is a systemic failure of the current system and something we have not been able to get on top of from day 1 of the QMS.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Thus, the QMS is not just starved of data: what little data it gets is highly questionable. MPI itself, succinctly illustrates the situation in the below diagram. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183662/original/file-20170828-12314-1ybtgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183662/original/file-20170828-12314-1ybtgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183662/original/file-20170828-12314-1ybtgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183662/original/file-20170828-12314-1ybtgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183662/original/file-20170828-12314-1ybtgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183662/original/file-20170828-12314-1ybtgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183662/original/file-20170828-12314-1ybtgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Glenn Simmons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>New Zealand’s fishers are firmly trapped in the cycle of non-reporting. The recent government decision to place <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/monitoring-commercial-fishing-revolutionise-fisheries-management">electronic monitoring and CCTV cameras</a> on every vessel indicates the gravity of the situation. This, however, does nothing to remove the perverse incentives inherent in the QMS itself. </p>
<h2>Comprehensive review needed</h2>
<p>The QMS has undermined jobs and livelihoods - just five large companies own over 80% of quota, and 60% of the offshore catch is taken by foreign charter vessels (FCVs) under contract to New Zealand fishing companies. These FCVs arrive with foreign crew, denying employment to New Zealanders, and outsource value added processing to Asia. </p>
<p>For decades FCVs, have been associated with the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/glob.12077/full">inhumane treatment of migrant fishers</a> working in slave-like conditions. Despite new laws, <a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201852682/hundreds-of-thousands-of-unpaid-wages-collected-from-fishing-companies-in-7-months">abusive treatment has continued</a>. </p>
<p>Concentration of quota in the hands of a few has resulted in many disenfranchised fishers. There is a sense of hopelessness over their activities and alienation from the management of the resource they depend on. Tellingly, Iceland, a nation strongly associated with fishing, <a href="http://www.thearctic.is/articles/cases/quotasystems/enska/kafli_0700.htm">described ITQs as feudal</a>, quota holders as lords of the seas and fishermen as serfs. </p>
<p>Just last month, the Faroese Islands’ fishing industry overwhelmingly rejected a quota management system. They had too many questions and too little evidence to support adoption of a QMS.</p>
<p>Ultimately, we need to lower the QMS from its undeserved pedestal, acknowledge its limitations and move forward through open and honest debate. We should also look beyond our own shores for ideas, as New Zealand is not the only country wrestling with these problems. </p>
<p>There are lessons to be learned from New Zealand’s QMS, and they are <a href="https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/news-events-and-notices/news/news-2017/06/failed-fisheries-management-system-costing-nz-economy-and-environment-experts-say.html">not all good</a>. After 30 years, New Zealand’s fisheries management needs a <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/83610398/glenn-simmons-hugh-whittaker-and-nigel-haworth-were-catching-fish-but-not-value-why-the-qms-needs-reforming">comprehensive review</a>. </p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>We acknowledge the contribution of Philip Clarke, a former forensic scientist and fisheries compliance investigator for the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82210/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Dawson's research has had funding from DOC and MPI, but not on projects directly related to fisheries.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>(David) Hugh Whittaker, Bruce Robertson, Elisabeth Slooten, Fiona McCormack, Glenn Simmons, Graeme Bremner, Nigel Haworth, and Simon Francis Thrush do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New Zealand’s fisheries are considered among the best managed in the world, but this perception doesn’t match the facts.Glenn Simmons, Research Fellow, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauBruce Robertson, Associate Professor in Wildlife Management and Conservation Genomics, University of Otago(David) Hugh Whittaker, Professor of Japanese economy and business, University of OxfordElisabeth Slooten, Professor in Zoology and Marine Science, University of OtagoFiona McCormack, Economic/environmental anthropologist, University of WaikatoGraeme Bremner, Associate professorNigel Haworth, Professor of human resource development, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauSimon Francis Thrush, Director of the Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauSteve Dawson, Professor, University of OtagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.