FAO Gear Selectivity and Environmental Impact
Information on gear selectivity and their environmental impact can be found in FAO Technical Fact Sheets. These are an accessible source of information on the fishing methods used around the world, including illustrations of the the gear, descriptions of where they are used, and the species caught with them.
They also provide information on how selective each method is, and it’s wider environmental impact. We need this information for our fisheries evaluations, because restaurants could currently be sourcing fish globally, caught by virtually any of the 49 methods and sub-methods identified by the FAO. We need to know what these are, so that we can assess whether a local fishery is likely to be a improvement on the fish already used by a restaurant.
This information, on selectivity and wider environmental impact, makes up two of the three elements in our evaluation of the sustainability of a fishery. The third element is the assessment of the state of the stock. For the UK fisheries, we take the FAO information on selectivity and environmental impact, and then draw upon other information to assess how much this may be modified by regional, local and even individual boat practices.
