rp_PurseSeinerByCatch.jpg
rp_PurseSeinerByCatch.jpg

Washington, D.C. (July 26, 2024)—Last month, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a comprehensive report revealing that NOAA Fisheries has failed to implement its bycatch reduction implementation plan effectively. The report highlights numerous cases of harm to marine mammals and other species and concerns about the reliability of bycatch data due to inadequate observer coverage.

John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA’s Oceans Campaign Director, said: “Commercial fishing kills up to 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises and nearly 100 million sharks every year—species vital for ocean health.  Disturbingly, this report reveals that these numbers could be even higher due to NOAA Fisheries’ failure to follow its own Bycatch Reduction Plan. Our oceans are in crisis. While NOAA Fisheries has made progress in addressing overfishing, this report reaffirms that much more attention needs to be paid to reducing bycatch. Greenpeace USA supports the GAO’s recommendations and urgently calls on NOAA to protect our oceans and the vital species that inhabit them.”

The GAO recommends that NOAA Fisheries clearly communicate its funding needs across regions to ensure adequate support for fisheries observers. Additionally, NOAA should update its Bycatch Reduction Plan to include measurable performance goals for reducing and monitoring bycatch, establish a process for tracking progress, and develop a plan for reporting bycatch estimates using an enhanced database.

NOAA Fisheries is required to ensure that bycatch and bycatch mortality is minimized to the extent practicable. Further regulatory protections are ensured for marine mammals and endangered species, including many turtles, sharks, and sea birds. Fisheries observers play a key role in reducing this ocean harm by monitoring bycatch on fishing vessels and providing data for NOAA  to estimate total bycatch. However, the variability in observer coverage can lead to unreliable estimates, especially in the less monitored fisheries.  While NOAA has acknowledged the need for more funding to recruit and retain observers, it has failed to communicate this need to Congress.

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Contact: Tanya Brooks, Greenpeace USA Senior Communications Specialist, P: 703-342-9226, E: [email protected]

Greenpeace’s Beyond Seafood Campaign works to end modern slavery at sea and environmental destruction in the distant water fishing industry.
Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa/issues/sustainable-seafood

Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first.