Fishing

The designs for the WWF 2011 International Smart Gear Competition are outstanding examples of how ingenuity can effectively reduce bycatch, a significant threat to marine life.

View an article on thegef.org about a breakthrough approach to help reduce bycatch and ensure a more sustainable future. Read more

Mission Blue, Oceana and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) delivered a letter to President Obama calling for renewed U.S. leadership at the World Trade Organization to end subsidies that contribute to overfishing.

A key World Trade Organization negotiating body released a a long-awaited report which underscores the urgent need to halt government-subsidized overfishing.

WWF is collaborating with Costco Wholesale to assess its source fisheries and further develop the company’s wild-caught seafood sourcing strategy.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced the launch of the 2011 International Smart Gear Competition today, to find innovative ways to reduce the amount of fisheries bycatch. Open to anyone from fisherman, backyard inventors and students, the competition will be open from March 1 to August 31, 2011.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today announced a new collaboration with King and Prince Seafood, a leading North American supplier of seafood and subsidiary of Nissui, the world's largest producer of seafood, to assess its source fisheries and develop a wild-caught seafood sourcing strategy. The one-year project began August 1, 2010.

World Wildlife Fund is dismayed that discussion of a long-awaited proposal to ban international commercial trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna was cut short today at the world’s largest wildlife trade convention when an immediate vote was pushed through.

A team of two Australian inventors today will be awarded the grand prize in the International Smart Gear Competition for a fishing gear innovation that could save thousands of seabirds from dying accidentally on longlines each year, World Wildlife Fund and its partners announced.  The winners will be officially announced in Vigo, Spain today at the World Fishing Exhibition.  

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today announced a partnership agreement with Giant Eagle Inc., to develop a strategy for responsibly sourced seafood. Under the agreement, WWF will assist Giant Eagle Inc. in assessing current sourcing of the company’s top seafood species in order for the company to develop a sustainable seafood sourcing strategy. 

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today announced a partnership agreement with SYSCO, the nation’s largest foodservice distributor, to develop a strategy for responsibly-sourced seafood.  Under the agreement, WWF will assess the sourcing of SYSCO’s top 10 branded seafood species and work with the company to develop strategies that build on its efforts to move towards sustainable seafood sourcing.  Implementation of the strategy will be addressed during the second phase of the partnership.  SYSCO is also a supporter of the multi-stakeholder roundtables, called Aquaculture Dialogues, which WWF coordinates and will provide financial support for the shrimp and salmon Dialogues.

World Wildlife Fund officials today applauded the decision by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to ban commercial fishing in U.S. Arctic waters until the potential impacts of such activities are better understood.  Recent melting of the Arctic sea ice on a scale unprecedented in modern times has opened up wide swaths of previously inaccessible waters to commercial fishing, oil and gas development and shipping, posing new challenges for resource managers.

Today, Google released the newest feature of Google Earth, called “Ocean in Google Earth,” which enables users to explore the world’s oceans online.

Designed to inspire innovative ideas for environmentally-friendly fishing gear, World Wildlife Fund launched the 4^th International Smart Gear Competition with a call for new designs for fishing devices that reduce bycatch—the capture of unintended species in fishing gear. The competition is open to anyone and carries with it the chance to win $57,500 in prizes.

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) decision to make only minor reductions in fishing for bigeye and yellowfin tuna does nothing to help stop the demise of these species, World Wildlife Fund said today. The WCPFC disregarded the advice of its science committee and its chair in making this decision, which comes just a few weeks after the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) also rejected their scientists’ pleas for significant cuts to catches in the face of declining tuna populations.

Alternative fishing technology has been shown to save turtles while not affecting fish catches, according to a report released today by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC).

Palma de Mallorca, SPAIN, August 14, 2008 – Key answers about the migratory behavior of overfished bluefin tuna will be revealed with the launch of a three-year Mediterranean tuna tagging project in Spain’s Balearic Islands, led by WWF scientists. Media can attend the tagging launch from August 27 to September 2 to observe the activities first-hand and speak to WWF fisheries experts on the bluefin tuna crisis.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) applauded the passage of legislation today by the Senate Commerce Committee that would significantly improve fisheries monitoring and enforcement.

A historic meeting next week may decide the fate of tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, one of the world’s most important marine resources.

The process of creating standards for certifying farmed abalone is underway. The standards will help minimize the key environmental and social impacts associated with abalone production.

World Wildlife Fund is one of more than a dozen U.S. and Canadian organizations that today released steps companies can take to develop and implement a comprehensive, corporate policy on sustainable, wild-caught and farmed seafood. The “Common Vision for Environmentally Sustainable Seafood” highlights a clear path for achieving sustainability in the seafood industry.

WASHINGTON – A key congressional panel today passed a landmark bill, strongly backed by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), that would reinvigorate the health of U.S. coastal waters and bolster the sustainability of the oceans.

Boston, Mass. – Continued mismanagement could force some tuna populations to quickly go the way of cod, a highly threatened fishery that once helped shape economies of whole nations, leading scientists said in the symposium “Last Best Chance for Tuna: Learning from the Cod Collapse” at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Boston on February 18.

A team of Rhode Island inventors today will be awarded the grand prize in the International Smart Gear Competition for a fishing gear innovation that could save thousands of fish and other sea creatures from dying accidentally in fishing nets each year, World Wildlife Fund and its partners announced.  The winners will be officially announced in Seattle today at the Pacific Marine Expo.

Washington DC– The bluefin tuna population is close to collapse because of over-fishing, lack of comprehensive management, illegal fishing in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean Seas, and insufficient measures taken by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), according to WWF and eight other conservation organizations. The organizations voiced their concerns in a letter sent to Dr. William T. Hogarth, Director of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service and the chairman of ICCAT today.

Washington - World Wildlife Fund officials today offered strong praise for the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in approving S. 2020, a bill that reauthorizes the Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA).

WASHINGTON DC - Senior officials from the State and Defense Departments testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in favor of a proposal under which the United States would join the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, a major treaty governing shipping, commerce and trade across the world’s oceans.

SAN DIEGO-The world's first certified sustainable tuna fishery was announced today, a move that could help save one of the world's most valuable fish - and the fishing industry that relies on it - from extinction.

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA – The 59th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) ended today with political wrangling and self-interest preventing significant developments for whale conservation.

WASHINGTON - Bill Eichbaum, managing director and vice-president of the marine portfolio at World Wildlife Fund, issued the following statement following President Bush's lifting of a ban on oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay which has been protected since 1989 through the Presidential Withdrawal first declared by President George Herbert Bush. The U.S. government has spent $95 million to buy back the oil and gas leases it sold in Bristol Bay prior to the withdrawal.

WASHINGTON - President Bush is expected to remove protections within the next week for Bristol Bay, opening what many call America's "Fish Basket" to oil and gas drilling. Bristol Bay has been protected from offshore drilling since 1989 through the Presidential Withdrawal first declared by President George Herbert Bush in 1990. But the area is currently included in the Minerals Management Service's 5-year plan to develop the Outer Continental Shelf for oil and gas development.

WASHINGTON -- Bluefin tuna stocks in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean are being stripped bare by illegal and unscrupulous fishing, warns a new World Wildlife Fund report. WWF demands an immediate closure of the fishery.

Nairobi, Kenya – A region-wide partnership aimed at restoring depleted fisheries and reducing poverty was launched today by the African Union, World Bank, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and WWF.

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2006 - A New Jersey inventor today was awarded the grand prize in the International Smart Gear Competition for a fishing gear innovation that could save thousands of sharks a year from dying accidentally on fishing lines, World Wildlife Fund and its partners announced.

WASHINGTON - More than 80 inventors have entered the second International Smart Gear Competition in the hope of winning the $25,000 grand prize for the best new fishing gear that will allow fishermen to target their intended catch while leaving whales, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks and other marine life untouched.

Washington - World Wildlife Fund today announced the judging panel for this year's WWF International Smart Gear Competition. The contest was created by World Wildlife Fund to encourage the design of innovative fishing gear to reduce marine bycatch - the accidental catch and related deaths of marine mammals, birds, sea turtles and non-target fish species. This year's panel of judges is a team of experts with backgrounds in fields as diverse as gear technology, sea bird bycatch, fisheries management, biology, conservation and the seafood and fishing industries. The multi-national, multi-disciplinary panel will gather in April to select the winner who will then be awarded $25,000 for his or her innovative idea for fishing gear that will reduce marine animal deaths.

As part of its work with the Marine Stewardship Council, Wal-Mart is partnering with World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International to make improvements such as reducing harmful environmental impacts and encouraging support for broader marine eco-system management and protection activities.

A week ahead of a key Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Montreal, Canada, the global conservation organization's report " Are we putting our fish in hot water? " shows that global warming is causing the world's waters to warm while rainfall patterns, currents and sea levels are changing.

WASHINGTON - World Wildlife Fund today announced the launch of the second WWF International Smart Gear Competition. The contest seeks innovative fishing gear that reduces marine bycatch-the accidental catch and related deaths of marine mammals, birds, sea turtles and non-target fish species in fishing gear such as nets and longlines.

GENEVA - The pillaging of threatened fish stocks, human rights abuse and global pirate fishing operations worth more than a billion dollars are documented in a report sponsored by the Australian Government, the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) and World Wildlife Fund.

Chiang Khong, Thailand - Fishermen in northern Thailand have netted a fish as big as a grizzly bear, a 646-pound Mekong giant catfish, the heaviest recorded since Thai officials started keeping records in 1981. The behemoth was caught in the Mekong River and may be the largest freshwater fish ever found.

"We applaud Disney for making the right decision to remove shark fin from their menu because of their commitment to conservation and responsible consumption," says Ginette Hemley, Vice President for Species Conservation. "Many shark populations are under attack by man. Despite their fierce reputation, sharks are preyed upon by humans for their meat, teeth and as the ultimate fishing trophy. Disney's action today helps pull sharks from the jaws of yet another threat."

Washington - Senators Ted Stevens (R-AK), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) have introduced legislation to replenish the federal trust fund that helps cover the costs of preventing and cleaning up oil spills. The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2009 if additional funds are not contributed to it according to a recent report from the U.S. Coast Guard. The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund Maintenance Act of 2005 was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation which is chaired by Senator Stevens.

WASHINGTON - As the world prepared to observe Earth Day, World Wildlife Fund and its partners in the International Smart Gear Competition announced three new winning solutions to prevent the accidental maiming and killing of marine mammals, juvenile fish, and sea turtles that become ensnared by fishing nets and longlines - a problem known as bycatch - while also improving the efficiency of commercial fishing.

Washington, D.C. - Protecting sea turtles, dolphins and whales has become a competitive sport in a first-ever global effort to energize creative fishermen, scientists, and academics to come up with innovative fishing gear that is more selective. With its International Smart Gear Competition, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and its partners hope to reverse the decline of vulnerable species accidentally caught in nets and other fishing gear by awarding a cash prize to the winners and eventually seeing the inventions succeed in international waters.