Fish Hooks Designed to Avoid the Wrong Catch

Summary:

            Regular fish hooks are made to hold on to fish, but that’s a problem because by-catch is an issue that fisheries and fishermen have to worry about. These new hooks that area circular help reduce that dilemma. Starting in May, commercial fishing in the Gulf of Mexico is mandated to use the circular fish hooks to keep from catching the endangered Bluefin Tuna.

Bluefin population has declined and is prohibited to be fished in the gulf. So these fish hooks are made to insure that the fish they want will be caught and the fish they don’t could get themselves out. John Mitchell who helped designed the circular hooks are from  the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The business that worked with him to make the hooks was Mustad of Norway.

These hooks help to prevent by-catch that many fisheries are having trouble with. If they use the long line method, they could pull the line up and put the fish back into the water with little to no damage to their mouths. Also it helped in not catching bluefin, turtles and big marlins. Now NOAA is doing more research on how long it would take creatures of the sea to escape from the new curved hooks.

Commentary

             I think these hooks area a great idea. So many fish are being killed because of the different type of fishing methods. The long line methods lets a line of hooks dangle in the water until some fish come along and take a bite. Then you would be gathering fish that you weren’t after. The net method sinks a net to the ocean floor, and pulls up toward the surface, collecting anything that get’s inside of it. This is terrible because it also collects huge mammals that need to breathe air. They can’t do that if a net is stopping them from getting air, and they drown.

            The new hooks can insure that that won’t be an issue. The hooks are “weak” so that the type of fish they want will be stuck on the line, but the  fish they don’t want will be able to set itself free or that the fishermen doesn’t have a hard time getting the fish of the hook.

            With the coastal part of the ocean being the most diverse place in the ocean, we have to protect the fish that we are going after but limit the number that we can catch to eat.

What’s next?

            Now what they need to do is to do this test with other fisheries in the U.S. and then with other countries. The people need to run more test on it in other areas to see if the same result will happen. If it works out well, then we could see how it affects people. It would affect the people who are the ones going the fishing. If they are used to using the J-shaped hooks and won’t be willing to change. If we could persuade them to convert, then they could catch more of the fish they want and make more money.