Featured video: tuna industry bycatch includes sea turtles, dolphins, whales
Jeremy Hancemongabay.com
January 16, 2012
WARNING: video is graphic.
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A Greenpeace video, using footage from a whistleblower, shows disturbing images of the tuna industry operating in the unregulated waters of the Pacific Ocean. Using fish aggregation devices (FADs) and purse seine nets, the industry is not only able to catch entire schools of tuna, including juvenile, but whatever else is in the area of the net a well.
Greenpeace writes that "our whistleblower—whose identity we’ve disguised to protect him from reprisals—says he witnessed scenes like this on an almost daily basis. During his interview, he told us he was concerned about the impact purse seine fishing with FADs was having on other ocean life in the Pacific."
Many of the world's tuna and other target fish are overfished. A recent evaluation by the IUCN Red List found that the tuna and billfish that bring in the most money are also the most endangered.
To read more: First global assessment finds highest-grossing tunas and billfishes most vulnerable to extinction.
