Bycatch

What is Bycatch?

Bycatch is any fish or marine animal that is caught unintentionally while commercially fishing for another target species. It is a “byproduct” of global commercial fishing that accumulates to 10.3 million tons of bycatch being caught ANNUALLY.

Why Does Bycatch Occur?

Especially in biodiverse areas in the marine environment, it is extremely difficult to target a specific species to catch, so innocent untargeted marine life end up getting scooped up in commercial size nets.

How Does Bycatch Happen?

Usually, the main culprits of bycatch are trawl nets (that are dragged behind trawlers) and gillnets.

Trawl nets are large open-mouthed nets that are dragged by a trawler along the seafloor or in midwater trapping all marine life in the net’s path.

Trawl Net

What can YOU do?

You can make a difference in the impact of bycatch by:

  • Looking for fish caught with long lines
  • Looking for bycatch safe logos
  • Signing petitions to tell your government that bycatch is not okay!

See for Yourself!

Reducing Bycatch

It’s crazy what happens out at sea, far from shore, where no one can see! But, now we know that millions of marine animals are caught as bycatch! Thankfully, there are measures in place that reduce bycatch.

Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs)

Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs) are used in the commercial fishing industry to help reduce bycatch. They are governed by legislation (in some countries). There are different types of BRD such as:

  • Bigeye BRD
  • Turtle Excluder BRD
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