Skills could cut bycatch
Experts say education can help reduce accidental catches by fishing boats.
Bycatch is when commercial fishing operators accidentally catch species that they are not targeting.
Researchers at CSIRO and The University of Queensland say their recent project shows that bycatch can be reduced through skill rather than sacrificing the amount of fish being caught.
The team measured the rate of bycatch across five industrial fisheries in different regions to try and find variables that influence bycatch.
They found that it was mostly individual vessels that caught less or more species accidentally, suggesting targeting the right species and only the right species is a skill that can be worked on.
They also say that some of the operators that catch the highest amounts of fish would be able to catch fewer species accidentally along the way.