WHAT’S theCATCH? Reducing Bycatch in EU Distant Water Fisheries A report by the Environmental Justice Foundation CONTENTS EJF ct Introduction 5 St Peter’s St, London N1 8JD, UK EU bycatch regulations Tel 44 (0) 20 7359 0440 Fax 44 (0) 20 7359 7123 EU distant water fisheries of concern [email protected] Trawl fisheries www.ejfoundation.org Purse seine fisheries The Environmental Justice Foundation is a UK-based Longline fisheries non-governmental organisation. More information about EJF’s work and pdf versions of this report can be found Conclusion at www.ejfoundation.org. Comments on the report, requests for further copies or specific queries about EJF Bycatch reduction priorities for the EU’s distant water fleet should be directed to [email protected]. This document should be cited as: EJF. What’s the References Catch?: Reducing Bytcatch in EU Distant Water Fisheries. Environmental Justice Foundation, London, UK. ISBN No. --- In 2003, the Environmental Justice Glossary Foundation (EJF) began an Artisanal fisheries: Typically inshore fisheries Longline: A fishing gear in which short lines international campaign on Bycatch with small-scale vessels using traditional or basic carrying hooks are attached to a longer main line at methods. These fisheries usually involve households regular intervals. The main lines can be as long as Reduction. This campaign grew from (as opposed to companies) but can be subsistence or km, with several thousand hooks. Longline fisheries extensive research on the wider commercial in nature. can target either pelagic or demersal species. ecosystem effects of tropical shrimp Bycatch Reduction Device (BRD): A device Mesh size: The size of holes in a fishing net. trawl fisheries. fitted into a fishing gear (usually trawl) to allow the Minimum mesh sizes are often set to avoid the capture of juvenile fish before they have reached their EJF’s approach is to make practical escape of non-target organisms. Most BRDs work by exploiting behavioural differences between target and optimal size for capture. recommendations and highlight non-target organisms. Commonly used BRDs Fishery observer: A certified person onboard a successful technical and operational include: square mesh codends, square mesh panels or fishing vessel who collects scientific and technical windows, fisheyes, bigeyes and radial escape sections. methods to reduce bycatch. information for a management authority. This Bycatch: The incidental catch of non-target species information may include: areas fished, fishing effort, and undersized individuals of the target species. Non- gear characteristics, and levels and composition of target commercial species may be retained or target catch, bycatch and discards. Acknowledgements discarded along with unwanted bycatch. Pelagic: A habitat or fishing range in the water This report was researched, written and produced by Cephalopod: Animals (molluscs) with tentacles column, at anywhere between and metres the Environmental Justice Foundation Charitable converging at the head, around the mouth. depth. Pelagic species spend most of their life Trust (Annabelle Aish, Louis Buckley, Steve Trent (Examples: squid, cuttlefish, and octopus). swimming in open water with little contact with or and Juliette Williams). dependency on the seabed. (Examples: tuna and Codend: The end section of a trawl net which billfish) Design Dan Brown ([email protected]) retains the catch. Codend mesh sizes and structure are usually regulated, as it is in this part of the net Purse seine: A deep curtain of netting that is Cover photo © FAO/M. Marzot that most ‘size-selection’ takes place. The codend maneuvered to form an enclosing cylinder around Printed on % post-consumer waste paper. may be preceded by a device to reduce bycatch (e.g. shoals of pelagic fish (e.g. tuna). Industrial purse BRD or TED). seine nets can be to m long and to Thanks to Brian Emmerson and all at Emmerson m deep. Press for continued support. Demersal: a habitat or fishing range on or near the www.emmersonpress.co.uk bottom of the ocean. Demersal species live in close Turtle Excluder Device (TED): a grid-like relation with the seabed and depend on it. (Examples: structure fitted within trawl nets to prevent sea EJF would like to thank the following people and cod, grouper and lobster). turtles from entering the codend. Instead, they are their organisations for the invaluable time and forced out through an escape opening in the net, just assistance with information, ideas and visual Discards: any marine organism caught when fishing forward of the grid. These devices can also exclude materials used in this report: that is not retained but returned to the sea (usually sharks and rays, as well as jellyfish, sponges and dead or dying). Helene Bours, Dr. Matt Broadhurst, James Brown, certain larger fish. Dr. Frank Chopin, Alistair Dillon, Marydele Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM): An Trawl: A cone or funnel-shaped net that is towed Donnelly, Michael Earle, Matthew Gianni, approach that takes major ecosystem components through the water by one or more vessels. Trawlers Beatrice Gorez, Dr. Martin Hall, Pavel and services into account in managing fisheries, can target pelagic or demersal species, and range in Klinckhamers, Dr. Rebecca Lewison, Dr. Andrew rather than focusing on individual parts of the size from small undecked boats powered by outboard Smith. ecosystem (such as target species). It explicitly deals engines to large factory trawlers of up to m in with issues such as resources conservation, habitat In thanking these individuals, we in no way imply length. protection, fishery and non-fishery impacts. that they or their organisations endorse the report’s Target catch: Those species that are primarily content. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ): A zone under sought by fishermen in a particular fishery, and are national jurisdiction (up to -nautical miles wide) EJF’s marine campaign is generously supported by the subject of directed fishing effort. There may be declared in line with the provisions of United the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation more than one target species, particularly in demersal Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea. Within fisheries. this zone, the coastal State has the right to explore and exploit, and the responsibility to conserve and (Sources: FAO, b; NMFS, ; Lewison, et al., manage, both living and non-living resources. b; Anon, ; Robins et al., ; Broadhurst, ) Fish Aggregating Device (FAD): Artificial or natural floating objects placed on the ocean surface to attract schooling fish species (e.g. tuna), thus increasing their catchability. ’ INTRODUCTION t is estimated that . million tonnes of non-target catch (bycatch) are discarded annually by the world’s fisheries (Kelleher, ). This Ihas considerable economic, ecological and developmental impacts (see Impacts of bycatch right). In some cases, bycatch reduction is already technically feasible and economically advantageous (Valdemarsen & Suuronen ) – what is needed now is the political will to implement and enforce solutions. In particular the European Union (EU) has clear moral, economic and environmental imperatives to address both bycatch and discard issues associated with its distant water fishing fleets, currently operating in the waters of developing countries (CEC, ). EU trawl, longline and : Poorly-selective fishing in developing purse seine fisheries operating in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian countries can have significant impacts on food Oceans are of special concern. security and employment. Bycatch reduction in these fisheries would be in direct accord with © FAO/P. Cenini (top) © FAO / P. Johnson international commitments the EU has made by adopting the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Code of Conduct for It is estimated that 7.3 million Responsible Fisheries and in ratifying the UN Agreement on the Con- servation and Management of Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks tonnes of non-target organisms are (see page ). Reducing bycatch would also be consistent with the recent discarded annually by the world’s reform of Europe’s Common Fisheries Policy (see page ). fisheries. EJF has evaluated which international policy initiatives could best K ELLEHER () address bycatch globally. There is much value in taking an integrated approach to bycatch reduction, rather than focusing on specific fish- Impacts of bycatch eries or specific bycatch species. As such, EJF is calling for a UN FAO G International Plan of Action (IPOA) on Bycatch Reduction (see page ) and High levels of bycatch can cause reductions considers that the EU has both the ability and a responsibility to take in biomass, and may alter the ecological the lead in proposing this initiative at the FAO. We believe that such structure and diversity of the oceans (Hall et action could complement and reinforce existing FAO initiatives al., 2000). Populations of marine mammals, designed to help individual species, such as the voluntary guidelines sea turtles, sharks, seabirds and commercial being drafted to reduce fishery-sea turtle interactions, and the Interna- fish species have been impacted by poorly- tional Plan of Action on Sharks and that on Seabirds (FAO, ; FAO, selective fishing gears (Hall et al., 2000), and a). for some endangered species this represents a leading cause of mortality (Gilman and Freifeld, 2003; Lewison et al., 2004b). G The economic costs of discarding bycatch are considerable. The incidental capture, sorting, and eventual discarding