Scope
Drifting FADs are widespread in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian ocean purse seine fisheries. They catch over 1 million tons of tuna (nearly one-third of the global tuna total) and over 100,000 tons of by-catch in the vicinity of FADs as of 2005. Skipjack Katsuwonus pelamis, bigeye Thunnus obesus and yellowfin Thunnus albacares tuna are the three primary tropical tuna species that FADs target. Other fish include albacore, dolphin fish, wahoo, blue marlin, striped marlin, mako shark, silky shark, whitetip shark, galapagos shark, mackerel, and bonito.
Before FADs, pelagic purse seiners targeted free-swimming schools of tuna. Increasing FAD use over the past 30 years has increased the productivity of the fishing fleet, but has significant side-effects. The average FAD-caught fish is smaller and comes with relatively large bycatch raising concern about declining populations of several species of pelagic sharks.
The U.S. state of Hawaiʻi operates 55 surface FADs around its islands to support sport fishing and marine research.
Read more about this topic: Fish Aggregating Device
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