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Main Authors: Schiller, Laurenne, D'Costa, Nidhi G, Worm, Boris
Format: Artículo científico
Language:en
Published: Science advances 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40333978/
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author Schiller, Laurenne
D'Costa, Nidhi G
Worm, Boris
author_facet Schiller, Laurenne
D'Costa, Nidhi G
Worm, Boris
Schiller, Laurenne
D'Costa, Nidhi G
Worm, Boris
collection PubMed - marine biology
contents The global footprint of drifting fish aggregating devices. Schiller, Laurenne D'Costa, Nidhi G Worm, Boris Animals Fisheries Ecosystem Tuna Conservation of Natural Resources Fishes Tuna are among the world's most valuable marine life and have long been exploited by industrial fisheries. Increasingly, tuna fishing companies have shifted from targeting free-swimming fish to using drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs): satellite-tracked rafts that move with currents while accumulating fish below. Here, we estimate the global footprint of these devices and track 30 years of progress to mitigate impacts. We estimate that 1.41 million dFAD buoys were released between 2007 and 2021, drifting across at least 134 million square kilometers, or 37% of Earth's ocean surface. Lost dFADs have stranded in 104 maritime jurisdictions, contributing to coastal pollution and damaging sensitive habitats. Regulatory progress has been made to address data quality, entanglement, and pollution but concerns over unregulated dFAD deployments, unsustainable bycatch, and weak industry accountability persist. Our results demonstrate that the cumulative environmental footprint of dFADs reaches far beyond tuna fishing grounds and remains inadequately mitigated at the global scale.
format Artículo científico
id pubmed_40333978
institution PubMed
language en
publishDate 2025
publisher Science advances
record_format pubmed
spellingShingle The global footprint of drifting fish aggregating devices.
Schiller, Laurenne
D'Costa, Nidhi G
Worm, Boris
Animals
Fisheries
Ecosystem
Tuna
Conservation of Natural Resources
Fishes
The global footprint of drifting fish aggregating devices. Schiller, Laurenne D'Costa, Nidhi G Worm, Boris Animals Fisheries Ecosystem Tuna Conservation of Natural Resources Fishes Tuna are among the world's most valuable marine life and have long been exploited by industrial fisheries. Increasingly, tuna fishing companies have shifted from targeting free-swimming fish to using drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs): satellite-tracked rafts that move with currents while accumulating fish below. Here, we estimate the global footprint of these devices and track 30 years of progress to mitigate impacts. We estimate that 1.41 million dFAD buoys were released between 2007 and 2021, drifting across at least 134 million square kilometers, or 37% of Earth's ocean surface. Lost dFADs have stranded in 104 maritime jurisdictions, contributing to coastal pollution and damaging sensitive habitats. Regulatory progress has been made to address data quality, entanglement, and pollution but concerns over unregulated dFAD deployments, unsustainable bycatch, and weak industry accountability persist. Our results demonstrate that the cumulative environmental footprint of dFADs reaches far beyond tuna fishing grounds and remains inadequately mitigated at the global scale.
title The global footprint of drifting fish aggregating devices.
topic Animals
Fisheries
Ecosystem
Tuna
Conservation of Natural Resources
Fishes
url https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40333978/