Pew Asks for Transition to Less-Wasteful Methods for Catching Swordfish

The Pew Charitable Trusts submitted a letter Oct. 16 to the Pacific Fishery Management Council calling on it to develop a swordfish management plan that transitions away from drift gillnets, a type of fishing gear with a long history of catching and killing additional marine life. The letter also asks fishery managers to forgo their consideration of longlining, another wasteful method of fishing that deploys hundreds or thousands of hooks on a line stretching as far as 60 miles. Instead, Pew encourages West Coast fishery managers to establish a timeline for authorizing the use of deep-set buoy gear, a selective form of fishing with “broad support from fishermen, scientists, seafood suppliers, fishery managers, and the conservation community.”

Read the full letter.