Fishing boats sometimes catch and discard fish, shellfish and other things they do not want, cannot sell, or are not allowed to keep. This is collectively known as “bycatch.”
By-catch is the accidental capture or entanglement of animals in fishing gear. It’s one of the most significant human threats to the conservation and welfare of marine species.
For an indepth view of the what, why and how of marine wildlife by-catch issues read this 2022 Seafish blog by Dr Eunice Pinn.
Because of size limits, quotas etc, fishing boats may catch fish and shellfish that they are not allowed to keep, and must return to the sea, even if the animals are dead.
This is more often referred to as discards. A high level of discards is bad for the boat, the industry and the environment. While a certain level of discard is inevitable during fishing, fishermen will go to significant lengths to avoid this waste.
These are some of the measures they employ:
For more information see these Seafish resources:
Fishing operations have always seen some marine litter dragged up during trawling, beaming and occasionally with more static fishing methods. Recently though the amount of marine litter has increased significantly.
Fishing for litter is one of the campaigns that seeks to engage fishermen so that litter brought onboard fishing boats at sea is kept out of the sea and brought back to land for disposal or recycling.
Worldwide there are many such initiatives, but we must not underestimate the scale of the challenge, or forget that the best marine litter is litter that never gets into the sea in the first place.
Fishing For Litter: Partnering with the fishing industry to clean up our seas