Bycatch Accidental Fishing

Bycatch means the accidental fishing of any species other than that, or those considered "target". Bycatch is responsible for the slaughter of an impressive high number of marine animals. Thousands of dolphins, sea turtles, stingrays and sharks end up every day to be the victim of unintentional fishing and catches. Most of the captured specimens are emitted on board already dead and later dumped into the sea as waste. Unfortunately, about 40 percent of the world catch is captured unintentionally and part of it is rejected in the sea, dead or dying.

In addition to non-target species, the phenomenon of accidental catches also concerns the capture of target species that do not have commercial value, being less than average. An estimated amount

Out of that amount, 7 million metric tonnes is the estimated to be discarded. For every 1 pound of shrimp caught, up to 10 pounds of marine life is thrown away. In addition, the amount of fish that people eat continues to increase, from 1960 to the present, fish consumption is in fact almost doubled. According to many marine biologists, the intensive exploitation of fish stocks is the greatest threat to the balance of marine ecosystems. 1 in 5 people eat fish as a primary food. Americans currently consume about 100 million tons of fish and marine life.

The vaquita is the most endangered marine mammal in the world. It is estimated that there are only less than 30 remaining in nature. The recovery operation for the Vaquita is anything but simple and risk-free,but without this attempt the mammal will disappear completely.

The Mexican cetacean ends up in the nets used to fish the totoaba, whose swim bladder is considered a powerful aphrodisiac by traditional Chinese medicine

The Mexican rescue plan of Vaquita begins. The small porpoise that lives in the Gulf of California, of which there are very few examples in the world, and for which a vip activist like Leonardo DiCaprio has taken to the field. This is an "unprecedented effort", says the WWF: the last examples of the very rare cetacean will be

Devices can be used to remove turtles from nets or birds from the palms or other to prevent dolphins from becoming trapped. Even if these devices are useful, they can not solve the problem themselves. On a more general level, the only solution is to control the intensity of fishing activities. This goal can be more easily achieved through the creation of marine reserves. In the case of migrant species, such as cetaceans and seabirds, in order to prevent accidental capture, the use of certain particularly harmful types of fishing must be