Stop long-line fishing
Sharks are fished with long lines. As the name implies, long-lines consist of one fishing line that can be 15 to 100 km long. But from this line, which floats on the surface, thousands of lines with hooks and bait reach out 10 to 25 meters vertically into the depths. It is estimated that between 3 and 10 billion hooks are set by long-line fishing operations around the world each year.
This fishing method is non-selective and famous for its very high level of bycatch. Not only targeted species such as tuna are caught, but all sorts of species that become attracted by the hooks. Each year, an estimated 3,000 marine birds are lost on a global scale. Many of them, like the albatross, are in danger of extinction. Another group of threatened species that fall victim to long-line fishing are marine turtles. Populations of marine turtles have been reduced by ninety percent over the last 20 years.
For tuna long-line fishing boats, sharks are bycatch. The problem is that this bycatch makes up a great part of the total capture. Some studies revealed that up to 48.3 percent of the capture of a long-line ship may consist of blue sharks.
Therefore, in 2003, 405 scientists from 47 countries, together with representatives of 100 conservation groups asked the United Nations to prohibit long-line fishing in international waters.
In Peru, long-line fishing also targets sharks directly because they are consumed in Peru. However it also endangers dolphins as artisan fishermen kill dolphins for bait, a fact never really investigated, but many times confirmed to Mundo Azul field staff by artisan fishermen themselves. A long-line fishing boat may catch up to five dolphins per trip. The real number of dolphins caught however is not known.
A new threat to sharks is the growing demand for shark fins on the Asian market. As a consequence, sharks are not just taken off the hook – fishermen cut off their fins and throw them back into the ocean alive, a cruel and devastating practice.
How can we protect sharks in Peru?
Peru needs to sign international fishing agreements and the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea in order to vote in favor of a moratorium of long-line fishing in international waters until scientific research has developed changes in the design of the hooks making them more selective and safer for endangered species, such as sea turtles and others, guaranteeing the sustainability of fishing.
Equally, the Peruvian government should prohibit long-line fishing in the 200 mile zone in front of the Peruvian coast.
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Page author: Stefan Austermühle
Reviewed by: Sean Minns
Last updated: 2010.06.20.
What you can do to protect sharks:
Support Mundo Azuls work – Write us
Sign our Mundo Azul online petitions:
Stop exporting shark fins from Peru
Ask the Peruvian company R.Muelle SA in Callao, Peru to stop exporting shark fins.
Stop shark finning in Peru and elsewhere
Ask the Peruvian Vice-Minister of Fisheries to ban shark-finning in Peruvian waters and work for a ban of shark-finning in international waters
Shark fishing in Peru is unmanaged and unsustainable. Shark populations are declining. Ask the Peruvian Vice-Minister of Fisheries to ban shark fishing till a truly sustainable management scheme has been set up.
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