Marine biodiversity is under assault, too. In the southern Pacific, long lines baited for tuna kill tremendous numbers of albatross and other seabirds. In the North Atlantic, trawling nets for bottom fish catch five times more marine life than they send to market. Discarding the future And by wasting so much marine life, fishermen may be literally throwing away the future. The evidence abounds, above and below the water.
Sea lions are frequent victims.
A poignant sight this summer near Isla San Jose was a sea lion sitting on a rock and barking as it slowly strangled, a circular piece of net slicing into its neck like a guillotine. In the Midriff Islands region, nets set for shark routinely kill sailfish, marlin, tuna and manta rays. The vaquita, unknown to science until 1958, lives nowhere else on Earth. They are drowning in gill nets set for fish. Only 300 to 500 are estimated to remain.