New findings from an ocean conservation organization shows information about the top nine grimiest fisheries in the United States, and what harm is done to various species including fish..
According to a report titled Unsolved Bycatch Problems in U.S. Fisheries report from the group, Oceana, all of the areas discard 50 percent of the fish they reel in, and hurt, and reportedly deprive the life of different species annually.
The fisheries also work with over 50 percent of fish caught without intention also known as bycatch.
"Anything can be bycatch," Dominique Cano-Stocco, campaign director at Oceana said in a statement via a press release on the organization's website. "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."
Cano-Stocco sees an optimistic solution for the fishing industry.
"Reducing bycatch is a win/win for fishermen and conservationists," Cano-Stocco said in the statement. "By eliminating wasteful and harmful fishing practices we can restore and maintain fish populations that are essential to renewed abundance and healthy oceans, while also preventing the deaths of whales, dolphins, seals and sea turtles."
The problem is most common in large catches in the ocean, fish caught via long line, and fish caught with a gill net a press release on Oceana's website reported.
"Hundreds of thousands of dolphins, whales, sharks, sea birds, sea turtles and fish needlessly die each year as a result of indiscriminate fishing gear," Amanda Keledjian author of the report and a marine scientist at Oceana said in a statement. "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. The good news is that there are solutions - bycatch is avoidable," Oceana said in the statement.
