55 / 72
55
2000), and it is estimated that reef-associated fish constitute
about a quarter of the total fish catch in developing countries
(Burke
et al.
2011). Globally, as much as 75 per cent of coral
reefs are threatened by local and global pressures including
overfishing, destructive fishing, coastal development and
pollution, aswell as rising ocean temperatures (Burke
et al.
2011).
A study by Paddack
et al.
(2009) links fish loss in the Caribbean
of 2.6 to 6 per cent per year between 1986 and 2007 to a gradual
degradation of coral reefs. Since the 1970s, the region has seen
an 80 per cent reduction in coral cover. Similar findings have
been observed in the Indo-Pacific where the coral bleaching
event of 1998 lead to a wide-scale loss of coral reefs. After five
to ten years there was an increase in larger fish (>45cm) while
the amount of smaller fish (<30 cm) were declining, indicating a
reduction in juvenile fish (Graham
et al.
2007).
Of all fish and seafood extracted from oceans and freshwater,
FAO reports that about 35 per cent is lost or wasted along the
food supply chain (Gustavsson
et al.
2011a). However it must be
noted that there are inconsistencies in data about the global
fish and seafood loss and waste of fish and seafood. This is
because there is a lack of data on bycatch and discards, but
also because there is a debate about how much of the discards
should be considered food loss.
Fish discards – the most direct form of fish waste
Bycatch, the capture of non-targeted aquatic organisms,
is threatening the world’s remaining fish stock. Bycatch
is a result of unselective gear that leads to the capture of
untargeted fish of incorrect species, size or sex as well
as other marine species, such as turtles and sea birds.
Though some bycatch is sold, or eaten by crew, most of it is
discarded or dumped back into the sea, often dead or dying
(Davies
et al.
2009; Gilman
et al.
2013).
The amount of fish that is discarded in commercial fisheries
is debated. Average discards in the 1990s were estimated at
7.3 million tonnes, or 8 per cent of total catches (Kelleher 2005).
Too often fishers lose or leave their used nets, hooks and
traps in the ocean. This equipment then floats around
and continues to ‘fish’ on its own, often for a long period
of time. This phenomenon, referred to as ‘ghost fishing’,
traps and kills thousands of fish and other marine life
including dolphins, sea turtles, seals and whales every
year. Fishing gear can get lost when passing vessels cut
the marker buoys or when trawl and seine wraps break
during fishing. In some cases, old or broken gear is
purposely dumped because the fishers see no value in
it and treat the ocean as a waste bin (Smith 2005a). It is
primarily passive fishing gear such as longlines, gillnets,
entangling nets, trammel nets, traps and pots that are
involved in ghost fishing (Smith 2005b). At first smaller
fish get trapped in the nets and then the nets get filled
with other marine animals including sharks, dolphins
and seals as they try to scavenge off the trapped fish
and other marine species (Macfadyen
et al.
2009). While
data is scarce on the number of fish nets being left in the
sea worldwide, research on European fisheries suggests
that 25 000 nets are either lost or discarded every year
in European waters (Brown
et al.
2005). In European
waters deep water gillnet fisheries targeting deep water
shark and monkfish represent the greatest portion of
ghost fishing (Brown
et al.
2005). Ghost fishing, which
affects target fish species, the seabed environment
and often endangered marine species, has severe
environmental impacts while also constituting a great
waste of potential human food (Macfadyen
et al.
2009).
Ghost fishing