Reduction of Environmental Impact from Tropical Shrimp Trawling through Introduction of By-catch Technologies and Change of Management

Shrimp exploitation by tropical trawl fisheries generates significant amounts of non-shrimp by-catch. In some countries, by-catch has become an important source of income and contributes to food supply. In others, by-catch of fish, particularly small-sized, is discarded at sea. The capture of juveniles of valuable food fish constitutes a threat to the sustainable production of fish from an area. Extensive removal of non-target fish is also a threat to the biodiversity in a fishing area. If the introduction of fishing technologies and practices that reduce the capture of juveniles is successful in a few selected countries in various regions, it can be assumed that such technology and practices would be adopted by other shrimp fishing also experiencing problems with by-catch. In addition to the expected increased fish production and conservation of biodiversity as result of project intervention, shrimp trawling will earn an improved reputation and so continue to produce needed export income for several poor developing countries.