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Share of fish catch that is discarded by type of gear used

Discards are animals thrown back (alive or dead) into the sea after being caught during fishing activities.Shown is the average share of catch by each fishing method that is discarded.

Shrimp trawl54.9%Otter twin trawl43.5%Gillnet, bottom26.1%Longline, bottom23.9%Trammel net18.2%Boat dredge13.8%Gillnet, pelagic11.7%Handline9.5%Pole-and-line9.4%Longline, pelagic7.4%Purse seine4.7%

Source: Pérez Roda, M.A. et al. (2019). A third assessment of global marine fisheries discards. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture.

Note: For some fishing methods there can be large variations in discard rates.

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