The Bycatch Solutions Showcase at the Seafood Expo North America 2024 highlighted active seafood supply chain collaborations to address fisheries bycatch of endangered, threatened, and protected species. Hosted by the SFP Bycatch Solutions Hub, the event brought together representatives from both fisheries and industry to showcase proven bycatch reduction practices in action.
The exhibition highlighted projects developed and/or managed through the Bycatch Solutions Hub that demonstrate operational success of proven tools and best practices being implemented globally across a diverse array of fisheries. In its inaugural year, the Hub collected over $250,000 USD in donations from the seafood industry to finance the execution of data collection and bycatch reduction workplans developed alongside fishers.
Funded bycatch reduction workplans include donations of on-demand pot and trap gear to gear lending libraries, supporting the transition from gillnets to the highly efficient deep-set buoy gear swordfish fishery, installation of electronic monitoring systems on tuna longliners, and installation of Hookpods on tuna longliners in the Indian Ocean. Additional projects showcased bycatch mitigation in the Vietnamese offshore tuna longline/handline fishery, western Pacific tuna purse seine fishery, Chilean anchovy/sardine purse seine fishery, Norwegian Atlantic cod fishery, and Alaskan salmon gillnet fishery.
Attendees at the Bycatch Solutions Showcase represented a number of organizations at the forefront in reducing fisheries bycatch from both ends of the seafood supply chain, from vessel captains to seafood retail giants, and every segment in between. Other represented sectors include NGOs, seafood producers, processors, suppliers, mitigation gear manufacturers, government representatives, and FIP managers.
To learn more about workplans available for funding or to develop a mitigation project in your fishery with the Bycatch Solutions Hub, visit or project funding page.
