Benchmarking global fisheries discards

The problem of discards in fisheries

Good news, bad news: global fisheries discards are declining, but so are total catches

During fishing operations, fish are often caught that were not targeted. When the species in question are of low value, or protected, this ‘by-catch’ is often thrown overboard as ‘discards’, the retained part of the catch constituting the landings. The amounts of fish discarded are generally highly areaand gear-specific, but can be high; for example, discards in tropical shrimp trawl fisheries ...

Ignoring discards biases the assessment of fisheries' ecological fingerprint.

Understanding the pressures of fisheries on the ecosystem is crucial for effective management. Fishery removals, or catch, are composed of both landings and discards. However, the use of discards data in studies investigating the effect of the fishing pressures is sparse. Here, we explore the individual contribution of both these catch components to the overall pressure of fisheries on the ecos...

Rebuilding global fisheries.

After a long history of overexploitation, increasing efforts to restore marine ecosystems and rebuild fisheries are under way. Here, we analyze current trends from a fisheries and conservation perspective. In 5 of 10 well-studied ecosystems, the average exploitation rate has recently declined and is now at or below the rate predicted to achieve maximum sustainable yield for seven systems. Yet 6...

Influence of management practices and of scavenging seabirds on availability of fisheries discards to benthic scavengers

There is great variation in discarding practice among fisheries in different parts of the world. Management systems result in some fisheries discarding mostly fish offal, much of which is macerated into small chunks, while other fisheries discard large (ca. 25 cm) whole fish. Scavenging seabirds consume high proportions of most categories of discarded fish and offal (typically 60 to 80% of disc...