The demand for fresh swordfish, tuna and sashimi, among other unsustainable caught seafood, is wiping out endangered leatherback sea turtles along with dolphins, marlins, sharks and other marine species because the commercial fishing industry continues to lobby against the use of species-saving devices and practices. Indiscriminate catching and killing industry practices, as well as the increasing use of larger, more destructive high-tech fishing fleets of ships, are destroying traditional fishing grounds wiping out local fish stocks.
Longlining for swordfish may be one of the most detrimental practices to non-targeted marine mammals, turtles, fish and sea life because fishing fleets often fish directly in migration pathways at a relatively shallow depth throughout the night using glow-sticks attached to baited fishing lines which also attract many non-targeted marine species.
Critics charge if there were only 100 fishing boats longlining there would not be a problem but, to date, there may be up to 18,000 or more longlining fishing vessels in the Pacific Ocean alone. At one time swordfish were harpooned but with the advent of the longline, which just one line may be 30 miles long and have thousands of baited hooks attached to it, now because of the increased numbers of fish caught, swordfish prices have dropped dramatically, but so have the sizes of the fish being caught. The average weight of a commercially harvested swordfish used to be around 200 pounds per fish. However, today, the average weight may be less than 100 pounds.
Whales, as well as every other kind of sea creature, too often get caught in the miles and
miles of netting laid in the ocean by commercial fishing fleets causing death and serious injuries to innocent sea life. Unlike most sea creatures, adult whales may break away from the nets but too often not without carrying lots of netting with them clinging to their massive bodies. The netting can then cause a slow torturous death as the netting cuts into the whale’s body possibly contributing to infection and a slow but sure death.
SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: NBC-TV DATELINE 7/13/98 and EARTH FIRST JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003