Science & technology | Fishing and conservation

An electrical device on a fishing line repels sharks and rays

It acts as a sort of “antibait”

Crew of longline fishing boat pulls in a Great blue shark (Prionace glauca) taken as bycatch while fishing for Porbeagle shark; they are not allowed to keep the low-value blue shark and will throw it back to die after cutting the hook out of its mouth; Nova Scotia, Canada (North Atlantic Ocean) 2008

Longlines, bearing hundreds, sometimes thousands, of baited hooks, catch commercially valuable fish. But they also catch sharks and rays, turtles and birds. This harms ecosystems. And removing the unwanted creatures takes time, can be dangerous, and may damage the gear.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Antibait”

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