[dos ballenas]

Originally Posted by Kayak_Bernie

For example Drift nets targeting swordfish and thresher sharks throw away 66% of their catch (in pounds) as bycatch. That would be equal to you catching/ killing/ throwing back two 30lb halibut when you keep one 30lb white sea bass. No recreational fisherman in his/her right mind would do that, yet the commercial industry in the US wastes over 2 BILLION pounds of fish every year...

I'm curious where you got the 2 billion pounds Stat listed? There is no way that the CaDGN (the drift net fleet off the west coast for Swords and T-sharks) even catches that much fish in a single year. Is that Sta for ALL US fisheries?

The CaDGN is a dying fishery. There are very few boats actually still in operation. The fleet is going out of business and favoring more sustainable fishing methods (DSBG, DSLL, and harpoon). That said the current DGN fleet is sooo small that bycatch is a non-issue in terms of impacting populations of said bycatch. The enviros just use this fleet as a smear tactic to promote anti-fishing agendas of all kinds. That said, net fishing is a pretty lame way to fish and there are better ways with lower bycatch.

The real issue is that US commercial fisheries are not the problem. US fisheries are regulated to the point that many fisheries are going out of business. US fisheries operate under strict rules put in place to ensure sustainability of said fisheries. We should be promoting locally caught fish and boycotting imported fish.

The problem is the international fisheries that do not fish with sustainable methods or comply to any regulations. We import a lot of fish from international or illegal fisheries. The sad thing is that the general public lumps all commercial fisheries into the same basket making our US fisheries seem just as bad as the illegal fisheries operating on the high seas. Which is not at all true.

If we shut down commercial fisheries in the US (that provide fresh locally caught seafood) all that will happen is:

1) US citizens will be out of work

2) The amount of fish that is imported from international and illegal fisheries will increase which thereby promotes unsustainable and unregulated fishing methods

People are going to eat fish. We need to make sure that the fish is coming from the right places. Support your local fish mongers!

see above in bold