The World Wildlife Fund is commending Culimer B.V. for its efforts to reduce bycatch in longline tuna fisheries in the Coral Triangle — a six-nation, 2.3 million-square-mile region in the South Pacific stretching from the Philippines to the Solomon Islands — through the use of circle hooks.
According to WWF, thousands of endangered marine turtles in the Coral Triangle could be saved through the use of innovative and responsible fishing gear such as circle hooks, which reduce bycatch of marine turtles without adversely impacting — and in most cases improving — the target catch.
“Culimer is proud partner with WWF on implementation of circle hooks in its fishing and processing activities,” said Martin Brugman, the Dutch company’s managing director. “Training hundreds of fishermen and helping them to implement C-hooks is a joy.”
Last spring, Culimer began carrying circle-hook super-frozen yellowfin tuna, which it promoted at the European Seafood Exposition in Brussels.
