Discarded fish are usually dead or dying. Almost 10 million tonnes of about 100 million tonnes of fish caught annually in the past decade were thrown back into the sea, according to the "Sea Around Us" review by the University of British Columbia and the University of Western Australia. Industrial fleets often throw back fish that are damaged, diseased, too small or of an unwanted species. Declining numbersThe report welcomed the decline in discards from a peak of about 19 million tonnes in 1989, roughly 15 per cent of a total catch of 130 million tonnes. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization last estimated, in 2005, that eight per cent of fish were discarded from 1992–2001.

Source: CBC News June 26, 2017 15:11 UTC