We all know that fish is good for our diets – excellent actually – but you may be torn between wanting to improve your health and wanting to be eco-friendly. Some of the practices used by fisherman are harmful not only to the environment, but innocent sea life as well.
Here in coastal North Carolina, there has been a lot of controversy over fishermen who use the gillnetting method. Gillnetting is the practice of putting a curtain of netting in the water to catch fish. The netting is supposed to be large enough to let the fish’s head pass through, but not the body, thus trapping it.
The problem is that the netting catches sea turtles and other marine life. Recently, 33 sea turtles showed up dead on the shores of the Cape Lookout National seashore. The turtles had no wounds and appeared to have been in good health, so officials have ascertained that the turtles had been killed when caught in gillnetting.
Some fishermen who are looking for clams, scallops, and oysters use the dredging method. This consists of dragging a metal mesh bag along the bottom of the ocean floor. It causes damage to the environment and scoops up unwanted fish, sponges, and other marine life that may not survive the experience.
Trawling, which nets the largest number of commercial fish, is when fishermen run a funnel-shaped net through the waters. This can be done at varying depths. If trawling is done too close to the ocean floor, it can damage the habitat and scoop up unwanted sea life.
Purse seining is the method of dropping a long rectangular net around a school of fish then using a drawstring to enclose the net and capture the fish. When used to catch small fish like herring, this is a good technique. Fishermen that use purse seining to catch tuna also end up catching – and killing – dolphins. However, some newer nets are equipped with devices that release the dolphins.
There are fishing methods that are a bit more eco-friendly, which I will discuss in another blog.
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