> Alberto Vieira Ferreira Monteiro wrote: > > Deborah Harrell wrote:
> > I'd already stopped eating shrimp some years back, > > because of large by-catch loss ("undesirable" > > animals caught in the nets and tossed back, > > usually dead), (...) > Shrimps are created in "farms" now - that's what > make > them cheaper while other fish products become more > expensive. There is still a very large shrimp fishing industry; here are an activist's pix of some: http://www.norbertwu.com/galleries/pew-web/index4.html (His numbers ratios seem high to me.) http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-30-sea-of-waste_x.htm For every 5 pounds of fish caught by U.S. commercial fishing operations, 1 pound is dumped overboard as unwanted, according to a new study in the peer-reviewed journal Fish and Fisheries. Those wasted fish add up to more than 1 million tons a year, 28% of all commercially caught fish, the study says. "We land 4 million tons, but we throw away 1 million tons. And that's a lot of high-quality protein that could be utilized," says co-author Andrew Rosenberg of the University of New Hampshire and a member of the White House-appointed U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy... Or, if you prefer the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR2005113001948.html American fishing operations discard more than a fifth of what they catch each year, according to a new report by a team of U.S. and Canadian scientists. The study, which was commissioned by the marine advocacy group Oceana and appears in the December issue of the journal Fish and Fisheries, represents the first comprehensive accounting of the amount of "bycatch" in the United States. Fisheries consultant Jennie M. Harrington, Dalhousie University professor Ransom A. Myers and University of New Hampshire professor Andrew A. Rosenberg used federal data collected from 1991 to 2002 to calculate which regional fisheries inadvertently kill the most unwanted fish. The Gulf of Mexico topped the list, largely because its shrimp fishery had 1 billion pounds of bycatch -- half the nation's wasted fish in 2002. Gulf shrimpers, which typically drag trawl nets with steel doors across the ocean floor, discard about four times as many fish as they keep, according to the study. U.S. fisheries on average throw away 22 percent, or 1.1 million tons, of the fish they catch... ...Although federal authorities track bycatch by placing observers on some vessels, their statistics are not comprehensive. And fish farming creates its own problems, such as antibiotic use, excrement pollution, and destruction of wetlands/natural habitat. I don't eat farmed salmon b/c of the first two, and the fact that farmed salmon have significantly less omega-3 FAs (desirable, healthy type of fat) than wild-caught. What can be done to reduce other forms of by-catch, from the Monteray Bay Aq.: http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_bycatch_sol.asp [Using 'pingers' to warn off dolphins, traps instead of nets for shrimp, longlines with 'scarecrows' and so forth.] Here is an article on global bycatch: http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/T4890E/T4890E00.HTM (summary; article much longer) The authors estimate that between 17.9 and 39.5 million tons (average 27.0 million) of fish are discarded each year in commercial fisheries. These estimates are based on a review of over 800 papers. The highest quantities of discards are from the Northwest Pacific while tropical shrimp trawl fisheries generate a higher proportion of discards than any other fishery type, accounting for one third of the global total. Of four major gear groups, shrimp trawls stand alone at the top of the list; bottom trawls, long-lines and pot fisheries come next. The third group consists of Japanese high-seas drift net fisheries, Danish seines and purse seines for capelin. Relatively low levels result from pelagic trawls, small pelagic purse seines and some of high seas drift nets. The authors point to inadequate data to determine the biological, ecological, economic and cultural impacts of discards although economic losses run to billions of dollars. However, it appears most likely that socio-cultural attitudes towards marine resources will guide international discard policies. Techniques to reduce bycatch levels including traditional net selectivity, fishing gear development and time/area restrictions, are discussed. Effort reduction, incentive programmes and individual transferable quotas (that make the vessel responsible for bycatch reduction) are seen as promising avenues for the future. However, quick solutions to the problem are unlikely and much more information is required. [FAO is The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.] Here is a long list of articles on bycatch around the globe: http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/T4890E/T4890E09.htm Debbi Out-Citing Dan?! Maru ;) ____________________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Music Unlimited Access over 1 million songs. http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l