le massacre de nos océans est INTOLERABLE !!

Posté le: Ven Sep 30, 2005 5:17 am

La pêche intensive : GASPILLAGE ! DESTRUCTION ! NRV

bycatch (prises involontaires ) = one of the greatest and most pervasive threats to the marine environment.

- 300,000 petites baleines, dauphins meurent chaque année (about 1 every 2 minutes) parce qu'ils se sont fait prendre dans les filets dérivants.

- More than 250,000 Loggerhead and Leatherback turtles are caught annually by commercial longline fisheries

- 100,000 sharks are caught as bycatch in the Mediterranean Sea alone per year

- 100,000 albatrosses are killed each year because of longline fisheries

In the Eastern Pacific alone, the number of Leatherback turtles has decreased from over 90,000 adults in 1980 to less than 2,000 adult females in 2000. All seven species of marine turtles are either endangered or critically endangered and bycatch is probably the single greatest threat to the species.

WWF estimates that 6 cetacean species may disappear in the next decade because of fishing gear entanglement. There are probably fewer than 100 Maui's dolphins left in New Zealand because of high entanglement rates in set nets and by pair trawlers.

Bycatch is also reducing shark and seabird populations. In the Northeast Atlantic 89% of Hammerhead sharks ( requins marteau ), and 80% of Thresher sharks and White sharks, have disappeared in the last 18 years as a result of bycatch. WWF believes populations of at least 22 species of seabirds are declining, including 17 of the 21 species of albatross.

Wasteful Practices C'est une HONTE !!

Bycatch is also waste. Annually, 30 million metric tonnes -- more than 25% of all fish caught -- is being thrown over the side of fishing boats, dead or dying.

Globally, 75% of fish stocks are categorized as either overfished, fished at the maximum or recovering. Throwing away so much unused fish and other marine life contributes to the overfishing problem. Solving the bycatch problem of non-commercial fish species could help rebalance our oceans.

Over the years, fishing technology has continuously been improved to catch dwindling fish populations more quickly and efficiently. Driftnets can measure more than 4 kilometres in length, catching dolphins, sharks and marine turtles as well as fish. 40 countries with longline fisheries use more than 1.4 billion hooks, snaring non-target sharks, marine turtles and seabirds as well as the tunas they intend to catch.

Solutions are urgently needed to help fishermen reduce waste and decrease interactions with cetaceans, marine turtles and seabirds. There are solutions - and progress being made with new technologies as many fishermen also work to find ways to reduce bycatch. In the Gulf of Maine, a combination of approaches reduced cetacean mortality due to bycatch by 77 percent in just the first year of implementation in 1999.

WWF Seeking Solutions

WWF is working around the world at the international, regional and local levels to help fishermen reduce bycatch of non-target species. Some recent examples of WWF's bycatch work include:

- Working with industry and regional fisheries management organisations in places like Ecuador, where WWF is helping the longline fleet switch from J-hooks to circle hooks, which can reduce marine turtle bycatch by 90% but do not adversely affect fishery catches.

- Developing a global bycatch reduction strategy for WWF to use in engaging national governments, regional fisheries management organizations, international stakeholders and industry representatives in bycatch reduction measures.

- Lobbying governments to ensure that bycatch mitigation measures are put in place in important fisheries and for key species in places like the US, the Mediterranean, the Southern Oceans and through the reform of the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy.

- Campaigning around key issues like juvenile fish in West Africa, where WWF directly reached 70% of the region's fishermen and was able to achieve a 60% reduction in juvenile bycatch in just a few months.

- Establishing a Cetacean Task Force -- a group of world-renowned experts on cetacean bycatch that provide strategic policy and technical advice to WWF on cetacean bycatch issues.

- Advocating for government enforcement of measures to reduce and eliminate driftnet fishing in places like the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea, where cetaceans are endangered.

- Developing new programmes of work around key issues and regions where bycatch is a particular problem. WWF is preparing an Antarctic and Southern Oceans programme, and a global tuna conservation initiative which will add specific capacity to deliver sustainable tuna fisheries.

- Being a partner with industry and other non-government organisations to find solutions around specific issues (e.g. Southern seabird solutions which aim to reduce seabird mortality in the Southern Oceans).

- Promoting Marine Stewardship Council certifications which provide incentives and a management framework for fisheries to reduce ecological impacts of fishing (e.g. bycatch).
- Launching a global contest for the most innovative bycatch reduction technology with a prize of $25,000 U.S. dollars.

Squaring it With Circles - Hope For Marine Turtles

WWF is working in partnership with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to help reduce mortality of marine turtles though an innovative gear modification that cuts turtle mortality by up to 92% -- while increasing swordfish catches!

The new technology involves working with the longlining fisheries in Ecuador to switch gears -- from the traditional J-hook to a circle hook -- and by using mackerel bait instead of squid. Tested by NOAA researchers and US fishermen in 687 research sets in the Grand Banks in the Western North Atlantic, the fishermen were able to reduce Loggerhead turtle bycatch by 92%.

WWF is now working with the longline fleets in Ecuador and Colombia to change from the J-hook to circle hooks in an effort to reduce mortality of Hawksbill and Leatherback turtles, both critically endangered. The technology change has potential to be implemented all over the world where there are longline fleets.

"If fishermen decide to switch over to the new system, they will not only be helping protect endangered marine turtles, but they'll be helping themselves financially in most cases," said Scott Burns of WWF-US. "This research shows that fishermen can see an increase in catch of fish, while also limiting the bycatch of marine turtles. Every nation that is fishing with longlines should be switching to this technology -- for their own interests and for the sake of marine turtles."

Contacts

Joanna Benn, WWF International
+41 22 364 9093, jbenn@wwfint.org

Peter Bryant, WWF International
+41 22 364 9028, pbryant@wwfint.org Download

SOURCE : WWF

WWF Whale Projects
WWF Marine Turtle Projects
WWF Endangered Seas Programme
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Posté le: Ven Sep 30, 2005 7:05 pm