11 May 2006 - Brussels,
Belgium – Thousands of sharks could be saved from
being caught and killed on fishing lines thanks
to the winning entry of this year's WWF-sponsored
Smart Gear competition.
Every year thousands of sharks
die after becoming snared on hooks set by commercial
fisheries to catch fish such as tuna and swordfish.
The problem has pushed some shark species to the
brink of extinction, with some populations down
by 90 per cent. In addition, millions of tonnes
of fish each year are wasted as unwanted bycatch
— the incidental capture of non-targeted species
— and hundreds of thousands of seabirds, mammals,
sea turtles and other marine animals are killed
through destructive fishing practices.
However, Michael Herrmann, a
research associate at the US-based company Shark
Defense, has won the 2006 Smart Gear competition
for an innovation that addresses the problem of
shark bycatch. Knowing that sharks can detect
magnetic fields, Herrmann found that placing strong
magnets just above the hooks on longline fishing
nets can repel certain shark species. He will
receive the US$25,000 grand prize to further develop
and test his winning idea.
“Solutions do exist, or can be developed, and
there is no excuse for allowing this level of
waste in our seas,” said WWF International's Director
General James Leape.
“Smarter fishing is critical
to ensuring a future for sharks, seabirds and
sea turtles. Without urgent and bold legislation
to reduce this critical environmental and economic
problem, the waste will continue and in the long
term, risk putting the fishing industry out of
business.”
Smart Gear runner-up prizes
went to Chris Carey of Independent Fisheries Ltd,
New Zealand, who proposed a flying scarecrow device
to scare away birds from getting caught on wires
attached to trawl nets, and to Kristian Zachariasssen,
Faroese Fisheries Laboratory, for inventing a
lighter, flexible grid for trawl nets that may
allow certain fish to escape.
The International Smart Gear
Competition was created by WWF-US in May 2004
to bring together partners representing fishermen,
fisheries, policy and science to find solutions
that will reduce the unnecessary decline of vulnerable
species due to bycatch. More than 80 entries to
the competition were received from 26 countries.
The winners were chosen by a panel of international
judges that included fishermen, researchers, engineers
and fisheries managers from all over the world.
"We hope the competition
will inspire managers and fishermen to look at
practical solutions to reduce the problem of overfishing
and declining health of oceans, which is also
endangering food security in poorer countries,"
said Leape.
"The Smart Gear competition
is an opportunity to find, reward and promote
what are very often inexpensive, easy ideas that
will be widely embraced by fishermen to improve
fishing gears and techniques."
END NOTES:
• Over 250,000 endangered loggerhead
turtles and critically endangered leatherback
turtles are caught annually on longlines set for
tuna, swordfish, and other fish, and 26 species
of seabird, including 17 albatross species, are
threatened with extinction because of longlining,
which kills more than 300,000 seabirds each year.
• An estimated 89 per
cent of hammerhead sharks and 80 per cent of thresher
and white sharks have disappeared from the Northeast
Atlantic Ocean in the last 18 years, largely due
to bycatch.
