WWF aims to significantly reduce bycatch by changing the way fish are caught.
Don't net what you don't need!
Each year, millions of tonnes of unwanted, untargeted marine animals are caught by modern, indiscriminate fishing gear.
These animals are called bycatch. They are often thrown back into the ocean – dying, or dead.
Bycatch is devastating our oceans.
Not only is it wasting a valuable natural resource, it is causing dramatic declines in populations of many marine species.
Yet it need not be this way...
These animals are called bycatch. They are often thrown back into the ocean – dying, or dead.
Bycatch is devastating our oceans.
Not only is it wasting a valuable natural resource, it is causing dramatic declines in populations of many marine species.
Yet it need not be this way...
We are working with fishers, fisheries managers, governments, fish buyers, sellers & processors, and consumers to:
- Identify and implement more selective fishing gear
- Amplify the roll-out of best fishing practices by word-of-mouth
- Implement and enforce management zoning for fisheries
- Create, implement, and enforce better fisheries policies
- Implement observers on fishing vessels to monitor bycatch and learn where, how and why bycatch is occuring
- Inform and encourage fish buyers, processors, sellers, and consumers to purchase seafood from responsible fisheries.
Bycatch is to the world's oceans what clear-cutting is to tropical forests: It depletes marine biodiversity, weakens ecosystem health and function, and diminishes production of ecosystem services to humans who depend on them.
Dr Bryan Wallace, Project GloBAL (Global Bycatch Assessment of Long-lived Species)
Bycatch is avoidable
Indiscriminate fishing makes absolutely no sense.
In many cases, bycatch costs fishers time and money. It contributes to the already critical problem of overfishing, jeopardizing future revenue, livelihoods, and long-term food security. It’s also a major killer of marine wildlife, putting several species at risk of extinction and drastically altering the sensitive balance of marine ecosystems.
Simple, proven methods already exist to reduce and even eliminate bycatch.
But while some responsible fisheries and individual fishers have begun to tackle the problem, bycatch is a huge conservation, economic and food security problem.
Why? It’s complicated.
In essence, there is a deadly combination of a lack of awareness, action, inertia, or resources. These factors span the spectrum of those involved in fisheries, from small-scale artisanal fisheries to large international operations, from governments to fisheries management bodies, and from supermarkets to consumers.
In many cases, bycatch costs fishers time and money. It contributes to the already critical problem of overfishing, jeopardizing future revenue, livelihoods, and long-term food security. It’s also a major killer of marine wildlife, putting several species at risk of extinction and drastically altering the sensitive balance of marine ecosystems.
Simple, proven methods already exist to reduce and even eliminate bycatch.
But while some responsible fisheries and individual fishers have begun to tackle the problem, bycatch is a huge conservation, economic and food security problem.
Why? It’s complicated.
In essence, there is a deadly combination of a lack of awareness, action, inertia, or resources. These factors span the spectrum of those involved in fisheries, from small-scale artisanal fisheries to large international operations, from governments to fisheries management bodies, and from supermarkets to consumers.
