Bycatch is the incidental capture of non-target species that get caught when net and line fishing. With heavy fishing, there is almost always bycatch, which causes the unnecessary and avoidable deaths of other, non-target species. The nets used when fishing are often undetectable by sight and extremely strong, causing unexpected entanglement, let that be of fish or dolphins, once something gets caught, it rarely gets out.
As the increase in demand for fish worldwide grows, so will the number of animals caught in fishing nets, which will contribute to the rapid decline of some species and diversity, causing a change in entire ecosystems, likely for the worse. Bycatch is a byproduct of many industrial fishing methods, like bottom trawling and longlines. These methods are used to catch large quantities of fish over large areas, but these methods are extremely unselective. It’s estimated that over 300,000 small whales, dolphins, and porpoises die from entanglement each year. This is the reason that Bycatch is the single largest cause of death for small crustaceans. All due to the carelessness of within the fishing industry, and the unwillingness to change industry wide habits that cause needless endangerment.
