Shark Bycatch

Photo: Rob Stewart/Sharkwater

When commercial fishermen catch animals that are not their desired catch, they call those animals "bycatch." These unwanted animals are then thrown back overboard dead, dying, or injured. 

Tens of millions of sharks are caught unintentionally as bycatch in commercial fisheries every year. Some of the most troublesome fishing gears for sharks are longlines, trawls, and gillnets.