Bycatch
Modern fishing vessels catch staggering amounts of unwanted fish and other marine life. It's estimated that anywhere from 8 to 25 percent of the total global catch is discarded, cast overboard either dead or dying.2 That's up to 27 million tonnes of fish thrown out each year -- the equivalent of 600 fully-laden Titanics. And the victims aren't just fish. Every year, an estimated 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die entangled in fishing nets, along with thousands of critically-endangered sea turtles. Long-line fisheries also kill huge numbers of seabirds. Over 100,000 Albatrosses die this way every year, and many species are endangered as a result of bycatch.
All modern forms of commercial fishing produce bycatch, but shrimp trawling is by far the most destructive: it is responsible for a third of the world's bycatch, while producing only 2% of all seafood.
“Bottom trawling is the most destructive of any actions that humans conduct in the ocean.