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- Roughly a quarter of the global fisheries catch (one fish in four) is thrown back into the sea dead due to the fishers being over quota or the species undersized.
- The fisheries with the highest levels of bycatch are shrimp fisheries: over 80 per cent of a catch comprises marine species other than shrimp.
- About 20 million tonnes of marine life are being discarded every year.
- In the North Sea bottom trawl fishery, 80 per cent of the plaice (fish) caught are discarded.
- A staggering 100 million sharks are killed each year. Tuna fisheries, which in the past had high dolphin bycatch levels, are still responsible for the death of 1 million sharks.
- An estimated 300,000 cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) also die as bycatch each year.
- Only around a quarter of fish stocks are currently being exploited in a manner that can be regarded in any way sustainable.
- The over-exploitation and mismanagement of fisheries resources has already led to some major fisheries collapses. Canada’s cod fishery collapse off Newfoundland in 1992 lead to a loss of about 40,000 jobs in the industry.
- Mangrove forests are key to a healthy marine ecology. These wetland forests may be disappearing even more quickly than the inland forests. They once covered 75 per cent of the coastline of tropical and subtropical countries. Now less than 50 per cent remain and of that remainder, 50 per cent are in a damaged or degraded state.
- The North Sea is one of the world's most productive ecosystems. It represents only 0.002 percent of the world's oceans, but 4 per cent of global fisheries landings are taken from the North Sea.
- In 2002 total landings from the North Sea amounted to 2.3 million tonnes, almost a quarter of the total estimated North Sea fish biomass.
- In the southern North Sea where the beam trawl fishery is most intensive certain areas might be disturbed on average a staggering 3 - 4 times per year.
- From 940,000 tonnes in 1999, the shrimp farms raised their production to nearly 1,300,000 tonnes in 2001,and production is expected to double in the next decade.
- The Western and Central Pacific Ocean is home to over 20 island nations and the world's largest tuna fishery. More than half of the world's tuna supply, over two million tonnes each year, comes from this region.
- Japan is the world's biggest consumer of fresh and frozen tuna at 30 per cent of global tuna production, while the EU consumes 40 per cent of the global canned tuna market.
