22% of fish in US wasted

According to a study by marine advocacy group Oceana, the Gulf of Mexico fishing region had 1 billion pounds of unwanted fish or “bycatch” in 2002, thanks to inefficient technologies mainly in the area of shrimp fishing. Often they are jellyfish or small crustaceans that get caught up in these systems, and since they are marine life with no commercial value, little is done to stop the practices.

They do have value to the ecosystem, and that will become an issue when the absence of these unwanted creatures affects the existence of fish with commercial value. In fact, it is this scenario that will most likely get fishermen to change their techniques, since their main objective is catching shrimp and new techniques won’t be adopted unless they are affordable.

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