The hidden welfare cost of commercial fisheries on non-target species
Fisheries bycatch — the incidental capture of non-target species — kills an estimated 40% of all marine life caught globally. This includes seabirds, sea turtles, dolphins, sharks, rays, and vast numbers of non-target fish. The welfare harm of bycatch is enormous: animals dying by drowning, suffocation, crushing, or entanglement; often after prolonged suffering. Reducing bycatch is simultaneously a conservation and welfare priority.
Sea turtles entangled in longlines or trawls face drowning (they are air-breathing), physical injuries from hooks and line, and exhaustion. Survival depends on how quickly they are released. Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in trawl nets are mandatory in many fisheries; circle hooks in longlines reduce ingestion bycatch by 80-90%. Trained handling of entangled turtles (dehooking, resuscitation) improves survival rates dramatically when fishers are properly equipped and motivated.
Dolphin and porpoise bycatch in gillnets and trawls involves drowning — one of the most stressful deaths possible for air-breathing mammals. Harbor porpoise bycatch in EU gillnet fisheries kills thousands annually. Pingers (acoustic deterrent devices) attached to nets reduce porpoise bycatch by 70-90%; their adoption is increasing but not universal. The welfare case for pinger adoption is compelling: preventing drowning deaths in highly sentient, socially complex animals at modest cost to fishers.