Every year, around 70,000 turtles and 200,000 seabirds die as a result of being caught as bycatch in EU fishing fleets. Image Credit: Marine Biological Association (MBA) Bycatch is when other marine species are unintentionally trapped by commercial fishing gear. This can account for up to 40% of total fishing catches, globally reaching as much as 38 million tonnes discarded per year. This volume of bycatch disrupts the oceanic food chain and can pose a threat to the survival of species already under pressure from various other human activities. A new EU Horizon funded project made up of thirteen partners from the UK, Spain, Portugal, France and Senegal aims to promote more sustainable fisheries management and reduce the bycatch of some of the most threatened marine wildlife. REDUCE (Reducing bycatch of threatened megafauna in the East Central Atlantic) has a budget of almost 9 million euros funded by the EU Horizon Europe program, which will be carried out from January 2024 to Dece...
The Ogasawara Islands are a chain of tiny volcanic islands located thousands of km South of Tokyo, deep within the world's largest ocean. Here, isolated from human habitation and the warm Kuroshio current that shuttles marine species from Taiwan over the Ryukyu Islands and up the Pacific coast of mainland Japan, nature has been allowed to flourish on its own terms. The research vessel, used to collect samples of seawater for the study. Right: Underwater scenery at the Ogasawara Islands. Image Credit: James D. Reimer. The islands, which are home to many endemic animal species and up to 70% of trees, have earned the moniker “the Galápagos of the East” for their significance as a hotspot for biodiversity and as the birthplace of scientific inquiry. They were recognized in 2011 as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site. Although there has not been much direct human involvement with the environment here, climate change poses a global threat to biodiversity. Geographic remoteness is a boon...
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