Evaluating Bycatch to Inform Seafood Consumers and Businesses

The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program assesses the sustainability of fisheries and encourages consumers and businesses to choose sustainable seafood products. The nature and extent of bycatch is one of the most important considerations in Seafood Watch assessments of wild fisheries. Our evaluation of bycatch addresses numerous factors including the total discard rate; impacts on populations of incidentally-caught species, including threatened and endangered species; and management efforts to mitigate bycatch. This presentation will delve into the details of how Seafood Watch evaluates bycatch, and how Seafood Watch assessments are used to inform seafood businesses and the public. Consumers and businesses have the power to transform the industry by choosing seafood fished using more sustainable fishing practices – a choice that can help protect the hundreds of marine species threatened by fisheries bycatch.