Protecting Marine Wildlife: New EU Project Aims to Reduce Bycatch in Fishing
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...
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