Deadly Catch: The Mile-Long Net Killing Sea Life

Fisherman only keep about 22 of percent of what their drift gillnets catch along the California coast, according to data collected by NOAA. What isn’t brought onboard is sometimes killed after becoming entangled in the nets – that includes endangered and threatened whales and sea turtles. The NBC Bay Area Investigate Unit obtained 25 years-worth of government records to calculate how often marine life is thrown back into the ocean after getting caught, unintentionally, in drift gillnets. The analyzed data covers the time period from May 1, 1991 to January 31, 2016.

Note: The photos above were obtained from NOAA, which redacted portions of the images to remove information that might identify individual fisherman or their vessels.
Source: NOAA, National Marine Fisheries