Latest News on Bycatch:

September 2011- Fishery Managers to Tackle Halibut Bycatch in Gulf of Alaska: Time to Take Action in Now!  

Click here for background information and what you can do to help.

June 2011- Success on Chinook bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska! Click here for the information on this important accomplishment.

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act

To address excessive bycatch and respond to a concerned public, Congress amended the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1996. The Act requires that fishery managers adopt measures to minimize bycatch by avoiding unwanted catch. In the North Pacific, the total amount of bycatch has declined significantly, from a high of 751 million pounds of groundfish in 1994. In recent years, bycatch has ranged from 332 million pounds (2000) to 249 million pounds (2005). This is certainly an improvement, but the amount of groundfish thrown over board in today's groundfish fisheries still represents excessive and unnecessary waste. For a summary of discards for the years 1997-2005, please see Bycatch Comparison Table (pdf). 

Bycatch data does not represent those species comprising the living seafloor, such as many kinds of corals and sponges that are hauled up to the deck, knocked over or crushed by bottom trawl gear.

AMCC publishes annual reports to show the amount and sources of discarded marine species in the North Pacific Groundfish Fisheries. Visit our Publications and Reports page to download pdf files of our bycatch reports.

Federal Court Upholds New Measures to Reduce Bycatch in Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

In 2006, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted a new requirement, known as Amendment 79, that bottom trawl vessels in the Bering Sea retain a minimum percentage of their catch as a means of reducing waste. Bottom trawl vessels drag nets across the seafloor and catch both fish they are targeting as well as many other unwanted species that are discarded dead or dying as bycatch.

The new federal regulation requires Bering Sea and Aleutian Island bottom trawl catcher/processor vessels that are over 125 feet long to retain an increasing portion of their overall catch. It requires that vessels retain at least 65% of their catch in 2008 and 85% of their catch by 2011. While some vessels already retain 65% or more, others throw away over 50% of their catch at times.

In May 2006, Legacy Fishing Company and Fishing Company of Alaska filed suit in the District of Columbia District Court to overturn Amendment 79 and its implementing regulations. The companies are based in Washington State but fish in Alaska waters. They claimed that the bycatch reduction measures would be too costly.

In response to the lawsuit, AMCC and Oceana, with legal representation from Earchjustice, joined the federal government in defending Amendment 79.

In March 2007, the federal district court upheld Amendment 79 and ruled that bottom trawl vessels operating in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands must reduce the amount of fish they throw overboard as waste in the process of targeting the most valuable fish. The court ruling is important because it established that the conservation mandate to reduce bycatch is a paramount obligation. The judge wrote that the regulation properly balanced competing factors in the Magnsuson-Stevens Act to minimize bycatch and to minimize cost to indsutry.

AMCC has been working to reduce bycatch since our inception in 1994. Many positive improvements have been made. However the Bering Sea bottom trawl fishery has escaped new rules several times by arguing that the cost of clean fishing is too high and that even excessive levels of waste should be permitted as the cost of doing business.

After many years of tracking bycatch statistics, supporting community concerns, proposing bycatch reducation measures and testifying before the NPFMC, this victory- which sets at least a minimum standard in the Bering Sea fleet- is long overdue.

Industry Initiatives – Seabird Avoidance

One of the most important ways to reduce and avoid bycatch is for fishermen to take responsibility through modifications to fishing practices. Fishermen can modify their gear to reduce the incidental take of non-target species and form voluntary reporting groups designed to notify fishing vessels of bycatch hotspots.

One example is the industry initiative to avoid seabird bycatch in longline fisheries. In response to the heightened risk of catching endangered short-tailed albatross and an average of approximately 15,000 other seabirds caught each year by longline vessels, fishermen worked to develop new techniques for keeping seabirds away from the baited hooks. Fishermen developed what are known as streamer lines, lines with long red streamers that parallel the baited hooks being set off the stern of the vessel. The waving red streamers act as a deterrent, keeping the seabirds away from the baited hooks as they are deployed. Now regulations require most longline vessels and fisheries to use streamer lines to help reduce and avoid seabird bycatch. Since congressional mandates and fishing regulations can only be so effective, the key to success is commitment by individual fishermen to use the bird avoidance gear to maximize the effectiveness of this program.