Bycatch - So what's the answer?

There is growing acceptance by fishing industry leaders of the need to reduce bycatch. Proven solutions do exist, such as modifying fishing gear so that either fewer non-target species are caught or non-target species can escape. In many cases, these modifications are simple and inexpensive, with the best innovations usually coming from fishers themselves.

WWF and its partners are key players in efforts to reduce bycatch. Our aim is to encourage sustainability in the world's fisheries, by working with all those involved - fishers, consumers, the seafood industry, and governments - to provide practical solutions to counteract the enormous environmental harm that bycatch is causing.

Inspiring innovations in fishing gear

Improving fishing gear is a key step in reducing bycatch. To this end, WWF is working to inspire and reward new ideas for selective fishing through the International Smart Gear Competition. Launched in 2004 in partnership with industry leaders, scientists, and fishers, the competition encourages creative solutions that will allow fishers to fish smarter - better targeting their intended catch while safeguarding other ocean creatures.

The competitions held in 2005 and 2006, awarded grand prizes of US$25,000 and two runner-up prizes of US$5,000 each. The first competition attracted 50 entries from 16 countries, and in 2006, 83 entries were received from 26 different countries. The competition judges look for practical, cost-effective and innovative designs that reduce the incidental catch and mortality of marine turtles, cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), non-target fish, and other non-target species in fishing gear such as nets and longlines.

The two competitions held so far have produced some exciting designs. In 2005, the grand prize was awarded to a simple mechanism to set baited hooks on the longline at depths below 100m, in order to minimize bycatch of marine turtles by Pacific island tuna longline fishers. The invention is based on the observation that turtles, as well as sharks and other non-target species, are often caught on hooks above 100m, while tuna are caught on hooks deeper than 100m. This idea is now being trialed by NOAA Fisheries in U.S. waters.

In 2006, the grand prize was awarded to a concept that used magnets to reduce the bycatch of sharks on longlines. Almost 20% of shark species are threatened with extinction, primarily as a result of bycatch on longlines. Many species of sharks are sensitive to, and can be repelled by magnetic fields. It was the use of a unique biology with a novel approach to addressing a global problem that resulted in the win for this idea.

WWF is now working with partners to test, refine, and implement the winning ideas.

Implementing new fishing gear

WWF is also working to implement several other already proven solutions. These include:

• Circle hooks: WWF is working with the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and other partners to introduce a new type of hook in eastern Pacific longline fisheries that reduces marine turtle deaths by as much as 90 per cent without adversely affecting catches of swordfish and tuna. The new "circle" hooks are much less likely to be swallowed by turtles than traditional J-shaped hooks, which cause suffocation or internal bleeding when swallowed. Circle hooks are also easier to unhook from a snagged animal. Mustad, the world's largest fishing hook manufacturer based in Norway, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have donated over 250,000 circle hooks to WWF for trials in the East and West Pacific Ocean. WWF is also helping with the testing of different types of fish bait, the use of de-hookers, and training in turtle release techniques in these fisheries.
  
  
• Turtle excluder devices (TEDs): WWF assisted in initial TED trials in Mozambique, and in 2003 helped make their use compulsory in the country's shrimp trawl fleet. TEDs are metal grids that allow shrimp to pass into the main part of the net, but allow up to 97 per cent of marine turtles to escape with only a minimal reduction in shrimp catch. As well as saving the lives of up to 5,000 marine turtles per year, the use of TEDs will allow Mozambican fishers to sell their shrimp to the US market.

WWF also supports other groups that similarly work with fisheries to test and implement new types of fishing gear, such as SeaNet (Australia), Southern Seabird Solutions (Southern Ocean), and the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Programme (AIDCP; Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean).

A comprehensive approach

In addition to improving fishing gear, WWF is working with academia, the fishing industry, other conservation organizations, and governments to reduce bycatch by:

• reducing overcapacity of fishing fleets and reforming subsidies that lead to overcapacity
• strengthening legislation, treaties, and agreements on bycatch, and
• raising consumer awareness about sustainably caught fish.
• promoting ecosystem-based management of fisheries

For example as part of our work on sustainable fisheries, we promote temporal and spatial fishing management regimes that reduce bycatch. We also promote Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of sustainable fisheries, which requires a management framework for fisheries to reduce bycatch and other ecological impacts of fishing. Our comprehensive approach particularly focuses on priority species, fisheries, and fish populations affected by bycatch.