In fishing, incidental catch refers to the portion of the catch that was unintentionally caught but retained. It can be distinguished from
discards
Discards are the portion of a catch of fish which is not retained on board during commercial fishing operations and is returned, often dead or dying, to the sea. The practice of discarding is driven by economic and political factors; fish which are ...
, which are the unintended catch that is caught and then returned to the sea, and
bycatch
Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...
, which includes all non-targeted species caught alongside the targeted species.
The operational definitions used by the
FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...
for incidental catch and other related catches are as follows:
[Alverson DL, MH Freeberg, SA Murawski and Pope JG (1994]
A global assessment of fisheries bycatch and discards
FAO Fisheries, Technical paper 339, Rome. .
* Target catch: The catch of a species or species assemblage which is primarily sought in a fishery, such as shrimp, flounders, cods
* Incidental catch: Retained catch of non-targeted species
*
Discarded catch (usually shortened to ''discards''): That portion of the catch returned to the sea as a result of economic, legal, or personal considerations.
*
Bycatch
Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...
: Discarded catch plus incidental catch.
Notes
References
* Johnson, Douglas H; Shaffer, Terry L and Gould, Patrick J (1990
''Incidental Catch of Marine Birds in the North Pacific High Seas Driftnet Fisheries''U.S. Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...
.
* Valdemarsen, John
''Incidental catch of seabirds in longline fisheries''UN Atlas of the Oceans: Fishery Technology Service.
{{fishery science topics, expanded=management
Environmental impact of fishing