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Bycatch and discards in Indian Ocean tuna fisheries

Year of publication 2014

Pages 4p.

Author Ardill, D.

Publisher FAO/IOC ;

Product type Document

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Public awareness and concern over the environmental impact of food production and security is rising rapidly. Whether real or perceived, scientifically justified or completely false, these perceptions can shape fisheries by influencing marketing, demand and product flow. In the fisheries sector, impacts can include overexploitation of both target and non-target stocks, damage caused to the environment by lost or discarded fishing gear, “ghost fishing” and pollution caused by discards, as well as the “carbon footprint” of fishing and baiting operations. The most recent estimates of non-target, associated and dependent species (NTAD) taken by global fisheries is of 7.3 million tonnes annually, 63% of which results from trawl fisheries with only 5% of the total from all tuna fisheries combined.

Language English

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