Report finds unbelievable waste in 9 major fisheries

[NickB79]

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/report-finds-unbelievable-waste-in-9-major-fisheries

A shocking new report from the conservation organization Oceana reveals staggering levels of waste caused by U.S. fisheries. According to the report, up to 2 billion tons of fish and other species die needlessly every year. This adds up to 500 million seafood meals every year, while also killing astonishing numbers of dolphins, sea turtles, whales, sharks and other endangered species.

The report covers bycatch — the capture of "non-target fish and ocean wildlife" either by accidentally catching unwanted species or by catching too many fish.

"Anything can be bycatch," Dominique Cano-Stocco, campaign director at Oceana, said in a news release. "Whether it's the thousands of sea turtles that are caught to bring you shrimp or the millions of pounds of cod and halibut that are thrown overboard after fishermen have reached their quota, bycatch is a waste of our ocean's resources. Bycatch also represents a real economic loss when one fisherman trashes another fisherman's catch."

The most bycatch, Oceana found, came from three types of fishing operations: those that employ open ocean trawl, longline nets or gillnets. "Hundreds of thousands of dolphins, whales, sharks, sea birds, sea turtles and fish needlessly die each year as a result of indiscriminate fishing gear," explained Amanda Keledjian, a marine scientist at Oceana and the author of the report (pdf). "It's no wonder that bycatch is such a significant problem, with trawls as wide as football fields, longlines extending up to 50 miles with thousands of baited hooks and gillnets up to two miles long."

[stuntcat]

1. k

[font color=white]because of shit there's no use trying to tell anyone anymore[/font]

[Nihil]

2. K&R. (n/t)