Posted on June, 15 2010

Bali, Indonesia—Large fishing companies and small-scale fisherfolk in the Coral Triangle, together with fisheries experts and relevant government agencies will gather today for the first time to collaboratively address some of the challenges plaguing this region’s fishing industry, particularly the problem of bycatch.

Bycatch or the indiscriminate catch of non-targeted species is one of the most urgent marine conservation and resource management issues in the Coral Triangle today. 

In this region alone, millions of endangered species such as marine turtles, sharks, seabirds, billfish and marine mammals are killed each year due to indiscriminate fishing and lack of management over ‘non-targeted’ species in fisheries.

“Thousands of tons of ‘trash fish’ are caught in fishing nets and thrown back into the sea, either dead or dying. This kind of wasteful management can have potentially damaging implications not only on biodiversity but also food security and livelihood for millions of people if left unaddressed” says Keith Symington, Bycatch Strategy Leader of WWF’s Coral Triangle Programme.

The inaugural Coral Triangle Fishers Forum, which will be held from June 15 to 17 in Bali, Indonesia, will present fishers with the opportunity to learn from each other and explore ways to reduce bycatch in their operations and improve their fishing practices through market-based partnerships that respond to rising demand for more responsibly-caught seafood.

“Seafood businesses can reduce their negative impact on the marine environment and move towards more responsible fishing by adopting better management practices through the use of bycatch-reducing technologies” adds Symington.

In the Coral Triangle, WWF is widely promoting the use of innovative fishing gear such as circle hooks, among others, to help reduce marine turtle bycatch, particularly among longline fishing fleets in the Eastern and Western Pacific.

Circle hooks or C-hooks are simple yet innovative fishing hooks that can greatly reduce marine turtle bycatch from tuna longlines by as much as 80 per cent, without compromising fishing efficiency.

“Apart from providing fishers with effective tools and programs to reduce bycatch, this forum primarily aims to create a marketplace with solid economic incentives for fishers to transform their practices and become more competitive in global markets that demand more responsible fishing.”

The Coral Triangle Fishers Forum is hosted and organized by WWF and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of Indonesia and co-hosted by the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC).

Editors notes:  

• The Coral Triangle—the nursery of the seas—is the most diverse marine region on the planet, matched in its importance to life on Earth only by the Amazon rainforest and the Congo basin. Defined by marine areas containing more than 500 species of reef-building coral, it covers around 6 million square kilometres of ocean across six countries in the Indo-Pacific – Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste.
• It is home to 3,000 species of reef fish and commercially-valuable species such as tuna, whales, dolphins, rays, sharks, and 6 of the 7 known species of marine turtles.
• The Coral Triangle also directly sustains the lives of more than 120 million people and contains key spawning and nursery grounds for tuna, while healthy reef and coastal systems underpin a growing tourism sector. WWF is working with other NGOs, multilateral agencies and governments around the world to support conservation efforts in the Coral Triangle for the benefit of all.
• For information on Coral Triangle go to: www.panda.org/coraltriangle
• For information on the Coral Triangle Fishers Forum go to: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/coraltriangle/events/coraltrianglefishersforum/

 For further information:

• Paolo Mangahas, Communications Manager, WWF Coral Triangle Programme, +60136730413, Email
• Aulia Rahman, Media Officer, WWF-Indonesia, Tel: +62818863722, Email
• Margareth Meutia, Corporate Campaigner, Marine Programme, WWF-Indonesia, Email