From seahorses to sharks, more than 3,000 fish species have been caught in bottom trawls, including many at risk of extinction, according to a new global inventory.
From seahorses to sharks, more than 3,000 fish species have been caught in bottom trawls, including many at risk of extinction, according to a new global inventory.
More than 3,000 fish species have been caught in bottom trawls, with estimates suggesting the true number could be nearly double, according to the world’s first global inventory.
Published in Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC), the study draws on more than 9,000 records of fish species reported in bottom trawls from 1895 to 2021.
“This is the clearest picture we’ve had of the breadth of bottom trawling. It reveals just how many species are being caught, and how much we have been missing,” said first author Dr. Sarah Foster, senior researcher and program leader at UBC’s Project Seahorse.
Read More: University of British Columbia
Image: The critically endangered giant guitarfish is among the species being caught by bottom trawling, according to a new global inventory published by University of British Columbia researchers (Credit: Sarah Foster, University of British Columbia).
