American researchers and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) are looking for the industry’s input on a new project to create an online tool designed to help fight bycatch in the fishing industry.
The New England Aquarium, located in Boston, is working with the MSC to develop the “Bycatch Information Exchange,” an online portal for sharing information and resources on stopping bycatch in the global fishing industry.
Initial plans call for the web-based platform to include a searchable database of information, papers, reports and other data.
The MSC recently announced a new standard for fisheries, which includes “minimizing mortality of unwanted catches.” The proposed online system will be available to “fishers, fisheries managers and members of the seafood supply chain, researchers, funders, fishery improvement project providers, environmental non-governmental organizations and/or those interested in bycatch mitigation and avoidance more generally,” according to a statement from the Aquarium and the MSC.
Anyone belonging to the system’s target audience is encouraged to take a short survey to inform the Aquarium and MSC on what features the final version of the system should have. Click here to take the survey.
