Consortium seeks economist | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction

The Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch has been featured in the August 22, 2011 New York Times Science article, “Fishing Gear is Altered to Ease Collateral Costs to Marine Life”. “The seafood on your plate is not the only animal that gave its life to feed you,” is one of the messages from Tim Werner, the director of the Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction. While fishing for tuna, lobster, or other tasty seafood, we catch, injure, and kill other fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, sea birds, and invertebrates.

Do circle hooks reduce bycatch?…It depends. Last week, NOAA hosted over 160 marine scientists, fisheries managers, gear experts, and commercial and recreational fishermen, from 20 countries, in Coral Gables, FL, for the first international symposium on circle hooks in research, management and conservation. While we all came away more informed about circle hooks, we left with more questions about their effectiveness for catching target species and reducing bycatch.