ReefKeeper International will gather these materials and forward them to the U.S. Caribbean Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service as one loud call for action to help save the coral reefs of the U.S. Caribbean. Wire mesh fish traps and entangling nets are catching thousands of small tropical fish. As the traps or nets are hauled aboard the fishing boats, these colorful fish lie dead and dying on the deck. These fish, called bycatch because they were not part of the intended catch, are simply tossed overboard either already dead or soon to die. Not only are these beautiful tropical fish being killed at an alarming rate, but the very coral reefs that they use for shelter are also being destroyed.
Heavy traps end up on top of fragile hard and soft corals.
Traps are retrieved by dragging heavy grapnels across the ocean bottom until the trap is snagged and dragged back on board, pulverizing everything in the grapnel's path. Without the coral reef, the remaining tropical fish have nowhere to live. In 1996, Congress passed the Sustainable Fisheries Act which set new standards for fisheries management in federal waters, from 9 miles to 200 miles from shore in Puerto Rico and from 3 miles to 200 miles from shore in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Among the new standards were requirements for federal fishery managers to minimize or eliminate bycatch to the extent practicable and to protect habitat essential to fish from fishing gear damage. It was widely recognized that these two elements were essential to the survival of many fisheries.