An official of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has announced during the Earth Day celebration hosted by the Department of Tourism on April 22 that bycatch is main threat to marine animals globally. Joe Pres Gaudiano, project coordinator of WWF, said bycatch is the most significant threat to marine animals at present. He told that 300,000 small whales, dolphins, and porpoises die per year while 250,000 loggerhead and leatherback marine turtles are caught annually by commercial longline fisheries. More than 100,000 sharks are also caught in the Mediterranean Sea alone per year.
Gaudiano said that in the Eastern Pacific alone, the number of leatherback turtles has decreased from over 90,000 adults in 1980 to less than 2,000 adult females in 2000. He opined these are attributable to coastal gillnets and longline fisheries. Gaudiano told that there is a need to work to assess and reduce bycatch of species of special concern like the sea turtles, seabirds, and marine mammals while promoting sustainable fisheries and fishing practices.
In the Philippines, very little is known about the accidental takes. Gears previously known to cause accidental takes are purse seine, driftnet, bottom setnet, bagnets, and drive-in nets aside from the longlines.
