Dolphins, marine turtles, seals, seabirds, sharks, juvenile fish, fish with little commercial value, corals … billions of unwanted animals are caught every year by fishing boats then discarded dead or dying back into the ocean.

Known as bycatch, the incidental capture of these so-called “non-target species” is a major fisheries management problem, wasting time and billions of dollars in damaged gear and inefficient fishing methods.

It’s also one of the greatest threats to the marine environment, wasting a valuable natural resource and causing dramatic declines in populations of many marine species. As such, WWF is working on bycatch as a priority conservation issue.

• Facts on some of the species affected:
        ...Turtles  ...Whales  ...Dolphins


• What you can do NOW to help