Bycatch from a Perspective of Sustainable Use

Bycatch is an old fisheries problem, but a relatively new topic in fisheries management. The increased awareness is often credited to the growth of conservation movements, but also a more recent understanding – especially by the industry that marine resources are exhaustible, and that worldwide fishing efforts are excessive and threatening to marine stocks. The issue of bycatch and discards has moved through phases over the past few decades. At the start, in the 1970s and 1980s, the issue was one of definition; in the 1990s came attempts at understanding and quantifying the extent of bycatch and discards. Today, management is moving into the next phase, which attempts to actively control the level of bycatch and discards. This has been paralleled by a growing number of technical and regulatory measures, which are proving successful at reducing waste in fisheries, but also by an awareness that management methods must be carefully thought out, as these often lead to wasteful fisheries. This report provides an introduction to the topic of bycatch and discards in marine capture fisheries, from term definitions and assessment methods to a review of possible causes, effects and solutions -potential and actual. A model for taking management action, based on prior assessment of the level and impact of bycatch, is suggested, based on the classification system devised by Hall (1994).