Over 100 shark and ray species were recently added to an international treaty, known as the CITES list, to protect them from the threat of unsustainable and illegal trade.
A green turtle on Aldabra entangled in abandoned fishing gear.
Rich Baxter
To fish the oceans sustainably, nations must reduce bycatch, or accidental catches. But fishermen often resist changing gear or techniques that kill nontargeted species.
Workers flood a Vietnamese-flagged boat caught operating illegally off West Kalimantan, Indonesia on May 4, 2019 in order to sink it.
AP Photos/William Pasaribu
Understanding when, where and why fishing vessels sometimes turn off their transponders is a key step toward curbing illegal fishing and other crimes on the high seas.
Last summer was the worst for drownings in a decade, with some groups tragically overrepresented. Community groups are urging a change of approach to water safety education.
Overfishing leads to the deaths of millions of sharks each year.
Hollie Booth
Fining and jailing Indonesian fishers taking shark fin is a knee-jerk solution. As long as sharks keep vanishing and demand for shark fin soup remains high, illegal fishing will continue.
Small-scale fishers in Durban are drawn to southern Africa’s sardine run.
Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images
South Africa’s policies need to do more to protect vulnerable and marginalised small-scale fishers and fishing communities.
The warming of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is causing upheaval in the balance of species, with direct repercussions on the commercial fishing sector.
Shutterstock
The warming observed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is causing upheaval in the balance of the species living there. That is having direct repercussions on the commercial fishing sector.
An olive ridley swims Into the wild blue yonder.
Gerard Soury/The Image Bank via Getty Images
Every year, it’s estimated as many as 24,000 fishers die in fishing vessel accidents. That’s more than 10 times more lives claimed than on merchant ships, carrying cargo or passengers. Why?
Thousands of dead and dying crustaceans were found along Teesside’s coastlines last year.
FlorianKunde/Shutterstock
Lyla Mehta, Institute of Development Studies; D Parthasarathy, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and Shibaji Bose, National Institute of Technology Durgapur
Facing human threats, Mumbai’s Koli community are taking risk reduction into their own hands – other vulnerable coastal settlements should take note.
Each year, enough fishing line to circle the Earth 18 times is lost at sea. This not only harms marine life, but also the livelihoods of fishers worldwide.
A container ship docks at the Lamu Port in Kenya.
Dihoff Mukoto/AFP via Getty Images