The bycatch data is extrapolated from reported Hawaiian longline bycatch by U.S. NOAA Fisheries.

Pole caught no bycatch.

The Costs of Bycatch

Another source would be fisheries bycatch.

Two kinds of bycatch plague a vessel.

Bycatch has extensive negative consequences on both the economy and biodiversity.

Many regional fisheries councils and national governments inadequately report bycatch or do not have observers aboard to monitor let alone require fishers to implement bycatch mitigation gear or strategies.

Estimates of seabird bycatch may even be much higher for some species.

Bycatch is both a problem for target as well as non target species.

In fact, the swordfish caught by the world's leading swordfish harvesters Japan and Taiwan is primarily bycatch from tuna fisheries. In effect, the value of the bycatch fish may exceed the targeted fish.

This portion of bycatch costs alone can be significant, especially in the longline fishery.

Unfortunately, the Council has yet to act on this concern when it applies to lucrative pelagic longline fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific where there is little to no regulation, data collection on bycatch, observers, and implementation of bycatch mitigation techniques.

I've seen sort of OK pictures of bycatch, the animals accidentally scooped up while fishing for a specific species.

L. Dayto et al, A global assessment of fisheries bycatch and discards, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper, No. 339, 1994.

As a result, much of the swordfish caught is classified as so called bycatch. According to Crowder and Myers, swordfish is such a common catch on tuna targeted trips that about 50 percent of the total swordfish catch is taken as bycatch, not as targeted catch.

For every pound that goes to market, more than 10 pounds, even 100 pounds, may be thrown away as bycatch.

The rate of bycatch in the Atlantic longline fleet, for example, was found to be one half of the total catch.

Bycatch and overfishing impose significant costs on the oceans and society, most of which are not directly borne by the fishers themselves.

Extensive bycatch by longline vessels has significant, negative consequences for recreational fishing and other industries that rely on a healthy marine ecosystem.

Lewison, R. and L. Crowder, Estimating fishery bycatch and effects on a vulnerable seabird population Ecological Applications, 2003, 13 (3), p. 748.

According to one scientific study, fisheries bycatch can result in direct mortality, but can also lead to delayed mortality or sublethal injuries, both of which are challenging to measure. (Lewison, R. et al, Understanding impacts of fisheries bycatch on marine megafauna, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 19, no. 11, November 2004, p.

So he had a handful of shrimp, maybe seven or eight shrimp, and all those other animals on the deck of the boat are bycatch.

In effect, the estimated cost attributed to bycatch includes only the time and equipment it takes to remove unwanted animals from nets, lines and boats.

The swordfish fishery was closed and the tuna fishery subject to time area closures due to high levels of sea turtle and sea bird bycatch.

We view as an important step forward the calls for specific action to prevent the decline of sea turtles and seabird populations by reducing bycatch.

Such action must not only aim to protect shark populations directly it must also address major threats to sharks, such as illegal trade, bycatch, and overfishing.

Expand and strengthen enforcement and surveillance with special attention to IUU fishing Require longline fishing nations to release critical data Establish a global fund to assist developing nations in implementing sustainable fishing Require regional fisheries management organizations to require 100 percent observer coverage and the use of bycatch mitigation measures that minimize wildlife bycatch based on the best available science

Bycatch destroys both predatory and prey species upon which complex ecosystems rely for survival, the long term consequences of which we are only now beginning to ascertain.

These happen to go down to a vast South Pacific Gyre, where they spend most of their time and often end up getting hooked like this, or as bycatch.

Sportfishers, divers, and other humans who live and work with billfish, sea turtles, seabirds, marine mammals and other species caught as bycatch are harmed directly, often with direct economic consequences.

And if it's tunas you don't care about, perhaps you might be interested that international long lines and pursing chase down tunas and bycatch animals such as leatherbacks, sharks, marlin, albatross.

We have yet to manage our fisheries to take into account the social and ecological costs of removing such a significant part of our marine biodiversity as so called incidental bycatch.

It is estimated that more swordfish is caught by tuna longlines in the Pacific than longlines targeting swordfish and that such bycatch amounts to about 25 percent of the global catch.

Reducing sea turtle mortality through reductions in longline bycatch would save money by reducing the need for costly, emergency sea turtle conservation efforts that are not calculated in the true costs of industrial fishing.

Page, B. et al. A summary of Australian sea lion and New Zealand fur seal entanglements in marine debris pre and post implementation of Australian Government fishery bycatch policies. The Australian Marine Sciences Association Annual Conference 2003, Brisbane, Queensland, 9 11 July 2003, 2003.

Greenpeace International also has followed with interest related General Assembly consideration of illegal fishing, bycatch, and the special session on 4 December 1995 at which the United Nations Agreement on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks was opened for signature and ratification.

In both cases, this waste is not included in estimates of the total operating costs or the price of fish, except to the extent that extra time is required to free or dispose of the bycatch, repair damaged nets and lines and empty nets otherwise crowded with unwanted species.

Nigeria is concerned about the relentless practices and engagements on the high seas that tend towards over exploitation, excessive fleet sizes, the re flagging of ships to escape controls, excessive bycatch and the lack of enforcement of conservation measures, as well as unreliable databases and the lack of cooperation between States.

175. The United States National Marine Fisheries Service had prepared a National Bycatch Plan (see A 52 557, para. 97) to serve as a guide for current programmes and future efforts to reduce by catch and by catch mortality and took into account the interactive character of fishery resources and protected species belonging to the same ecosystems.

And to make that point even more visual, I swam under the shrimp boat and made this picture of the guy shoveling this bycatch into the sea as trash and photographed this cascade of death, you know, animals like guitarfish, bat rays, flounder, pufferfish, that only an hour before, were on the bottom of the ocean, alive, but now being thrown back as trash.