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Discards in the world's marine fisheries. An update










Kelleher, K. Discards in the world’s marine fisheries. An update. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 470. Rome, FAO. 2005. 131p. Includes a CD-ROM.



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    Book (series)
    A third assessment of global marine fisheries discards 2019
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    This third update of FAO’s global discard estimate adopted the ‘fishery-by-fishery’ approach employed in the second discards assessment published in 2005. The update included publicly available discard data in the last 20 years to establish a baseline of a time series of global marine fisheries discards. This is essential for monitoring the status and trends of discard management, which is the first step of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management cycle. In addition, the study developed a new fisheries data table incorporating landings data from the FAO Global Capture Production dataset (FishStat J) from 2010 to 2014, which allocated the landings to over 2 000 fisheries worldwide. The current study estimated that the annual discards from global marine capture fisheries between 2010 and 2014 was 9.1 million tonnes (95% CI: 6.7 – 16.1 million tonnes). About 46 percent (4.2 million tonnes) of total annual discards were from bottom trawls that included otter trawls, shrimp trawls, pair bottom trawls, twin otter trawls and beam trawls. The study included a synthesis of estimates of bycatch and discards of endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species. Substantial advances have been made in quantifying fisheries interactions with such species so as to make informed decisions on their protection. However, many challenges remain, especially for small-scale fisheries. The development of standardized data collection techniques, risk-based sampling and sharing of data across agencies and regions will help to identify management priorities and allow implementation and enforcement of mitigation measures. A review of previous research showed that discard practices were often related to a wide range of factors, so it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of fishery management actions on the amount and practice of discards. Many regulations are inconsistently enforced, and their implementation is often less strict than intended. Piecemeal approaches in many bycatch and discards management measures can result in unintended cross-taxa conflicts, where regulations designed to reduce bycatch and/or discards of one species or species group may increase bycatch and/or discards of another. Examination of approaches to accounting for and mitigating against pre-catch, post-capture and ghost fishing mortalities demonstrates that an understanding of the relative importance of factors affecting indirect fishing mortality is necessary for estimating total fishing-induced mortality and for designing and implementing mitigation measures.
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    Book (series)
    A Study of the Options for Utilization of Bycatch and Discards from marine capture Fisheries 1997
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    Fish are discarded for various reasons at sea, representing a waste of fishery resources and potential food. Although the exact quantities wasted might be disputed, the amount of fish wasted through discarding is large. One of the options that is apparent for overcoming the problems of discards in fisheries is that more of the fish should be used for human consumption, assuming that it is consistent with responsible fisheries management practices. This would not only overcome the apparent was te of resources but would also add more valuable fish protein to the food balance of many people. This paper brings together information, on the species and where possible the quantities of fish that are presently discarded. Information on attempts and trends that have been and are being made to make use of these potential discards are used to illustrate the successes and failures which might help to guide further efforts in fuller utilisation of the fish resources. It is apparent that more s ystematic information is required regarding the quantity and composition of discards in many fisheries. It also seems from past experience that successful use of bycatch is usually market lead and that efforts should continue to assist in identifying suitable marketing and product development opportunities where appropriate.The FAO Fisheries Circular is a vehicle for the distribution of short or ephemeral notes, lists, etc., including provisional versions of documents to be issued later in othe r series.
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    A third assessment of global marine fisheries discards. Advanced executive summary 2018
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    The new FAO global study on discards and bycatch is being peer-reviewed at this moment (June 2018) and it will be published as a Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper by October 2018. This leaflet will be an advanced copy of the Executive Summary of such Technical Paper to inform COFI on the results of the new FAO global study on discards and bycatch in marine fisheries. This study will contribute to Strategic Objective number 2: Increase and Improve Provision of Goods and Services from Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in a Sustainable Manner.

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