The struggle (video)

(C) Greenpeace

Although not so excessive compared to some fishing practices, bycatch (non-target species) is still a serious issue for both longlining and (especially) purse seining. For longlining, the fish caught are sometimes on the hook for hours before the line is reeled in - meaning unwanted catch is often dead before it can be released.

Watch video (2.2MB mpeg)

Larger photo

With purse seiners the process of catching is quite a rough one. Fish are physically crushed as the net tightens or they are scooped out, they hurt each other and themselves in a panic, they "suffocate", and they get caught up in the net holes. We have seen that even the ones that do squeeze out through the net can be scarred by the struggle - no doubt shortening their life (see pic).

The problem is that there doesn't seem to be anyone counting these fish that escape or are thrown overboard. For proper, ecosystem based, fisheries management the policy makers need to know what impact the fishing is having on both the target species (in this case tuna), and any unwanted fish (non-target species and juveniles) that are killed or injured in the fishing. The only practical means of getting reliable information of this sort is having trained and independent observers on board the fishing boats - but so far there is very poor observer coverage in this fishery.