The worldwide fishing industry is in danger. If current trends continue, it could collapse by 2050 because three-quarters of the world’s fish stocks are being harvested faster than they can reproduce. Some 80% of fish species already are fully exploited or are in decline and the great majority of all large predatory fish already are gone.
We hear more and more about sustainable seafood and there are growing efforts to use sustainable practices in the industry. However, the disturbing truth about the U.S. fishing industry is that each year, it throws away about 2 billions pounds of fish. This is a problem from the perspective of animal rights, the environment, the ocean ecosystem and economics.
Why is so much fish discarded? Much of it is bycatch – fish that is caught unintentionally. Some fish is thrown out because regulations prohibit it from being kept. Some is thrown out because it won’t fetch high enough prices. In the South Atlantic and Gulf, the shrimp trawl fishery alone discards about $100 million worth of fish.
Fish are not the only victims in all of this. Unwanted bycatch also includes hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises and seabirds that get entangled in fishing nets.
Oceana, a large international advocacy group, has recommended a series of measures that the fishing industry should take to limit and control bycatch. As consumers, we can choose to buy sustainably sourced seafood and avoid threatened species. By altering global demand, we can encourage the industry to behave responsibly.
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Photo, posted August 21, 2012, courtesy of AJB Photography via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.