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Commercial Fishing: How Fish Get From the High Seas to
Your Supermarket
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Some long-liners cut nontarget animals
loose before removing the hook, not wanting to “waste
time” by taking the hook out of the injured sea
turtle, shark, or nontarget fish species. |
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Long-Lines
Long-lining is one of the most widespread methods of fishing.
Ships unreel as much as 75 miles of line bristling with hundreds
of thousands of baited hooks. The hooks are dragged behind
the boat at varying depths or are kept afloat by buoys and
left overnight, luring any animal in the area to grab a free
meal. Once hooked, some animals drown or bleed to death in
the water, and many others struggle for hours until the boat
returns to reel them in.
Large fish such as swordfish and yellowfin tuna, weighing
hundreds of pounds each, are pulled toward the boat by the
baited line. Fishers sink pickaxes into the animals’
fins, sides, and even eyes—any part of the fish that
will allow them to haul the animals aboard without ripping
out the hook. Many of the fish are still alive, and they are
clubbed to death or slowly bleed to death when their gills
are sliced open.
Billions of fish, sharks, sea turtles, dolphins, birds, and
other marine animals are injured and killed by long-lines
each year.
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More About Tuna
“Small”
tuna species, such as yellowfin and albacore, can grow
to be 6.5 feet long and can weigh hundreds of pounds.
The largest tuna are bluefin tuna, which can reach 15
feet in length and weigh more than 1,500 pounds. Tuna
have one of the largest ranges of any fish, and with
a top speed of 40 miles an hour, they can travel more
than 100 miles in one day. Young tuna travel in schools
containing individuals of similar size, although schools
may consist of several different species. So a long-line
or purse seine might bring up dozens of 3-foot-long
tuna of various species on one day because they were
all schooling together. Tuna fish are consumed more
than any other fish in the ocean, which has caused their
populations to decline by more than 90 percent in the
past 50 years. |
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