Destructive Fishing Practices

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Currently, “more than 90 million tons of seafood are removed from the ocean each year to meet consumer demand” (“Sustainable Solutions,” n.d.) and beyond the removal of seafood “approximately 3.3 million pounds of coral are removed from the ocean for use in aquaria, home décor objects, jewelry, and road-building material” (“Sustainable Solutions,” n.d.). Overfishing, which is the catching of more fish than the ocean can produce, is a problem throughout the world’s oceans that is largely to blame due to: poor fisheries management, pirate fishers, those who do not respect fishing laws or agreements, subsidies that keep too many boats on the waters, unfair fishing partnership agreements, and destructive fishing practices. Current data suggest …show more content…
“Bycatch refers to all forms of marine life caught unintentionally while catching other fish” (“Destructive Fishing Practices and Bycatch”, n.d.). Simply, the nets used by large commercial fisheries do not specify the intended fish, rather many organisms caught by fisheries are not the intended target. It is estimated that bycatch accounts for 40% of all marine catches, many of these catches being juveniles (“Destructive Fishing Practices and Bycatch”, n.d.). Additionally, millions of tons caught by commercial fisheries are thrown back each year dead or wounded. In addition, although the use of poison and explosives is a traditional technique for fish catching the new trends in this practice have proved to be highly devastating to marine life. Negative effects of this practice have multiplied since fisheries moved away from plant-based substances to the use of chemical poisons for this process. Beyond the devastation to marine life and the surrounding flora and fauna, the “explosions can produce very large craters, devastating between 10 and 20 square meters of the sea floor” (Destructive Fishing Practices and Bycatch”, n.d.). Furthermore, ghost fishing, which the result of nets and other fishing material that are accidentally or intentionally abandoned in the sea, has gained a lot of media attention in terms of its effect on marine life. The nets and other fishing materials that have been left in the sea are an increasing problem because the growing trend of increased fishing activity and the use of line and nets made from the long-lasting synthetic material. These nets and other materials will trap fish, shellfish, and even larger marine mammals which will eventually die of suffocation, exhaustion, or simply the vulnerability of their state making them easy prey for a
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