Nearly half global fish catch is wasted

So retarded right. If we go to a buffet and we waste food we get charged a wastage fee; the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation needs to impose a similar fine to fishing wastage! This is so much worse and on such a huge scale that it cannot be overlooked or ignored anymore.

Nearly half global fish catch is wasted
1 May 2009, OneWorld.net

Nearly half of the world’s recorded fish catch is unused according to a new scientific paper co-authored by WWF. It estimates that each year over 38 million tonnes of fish, taken from our oceans by fishing activities, is left un-managed or unused, and should be considered as bycatch.


Collateral damage: A dead shark is entangled in a fishing net off Tanzania in this undated file photo. COURTESY OF WWF

The WWF paper estimates the proportion of bycatch in 46 fishing countries (including the North-East Atlantic and Mediterranean & Black Sea areas) and two global fisheries; tuna and shark fin. In redefining bycatch as anything fishers take from our oceans that is ‘unused or un-managed’, the paper’s estimates go well beyond previous global estimates, which focus mainly on catch which is thrown away and vary from 7 to 27 million tonnes a year.

It is likely that the worst case of wasteful fishing is seen in fisheries that target sharks exclusively for their fins where 92 per cent of what is caught is discarded back in the ocean.

According to WWF, bycatch costs fishers time and money, contributing to overfishing, jeopardizing future revenue, livelihoods, and long-term food security. It’s also a major killer of marine wildlife, putting several species at risk of extinction and drastically altering the sensitive balance of ecosystems.