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In fishing, incidental catch refers to the portion of the catch that was unintentionally caught but retained. It can be distinguished from discards, which are the unintended catch that is caught and then returned to the sea, and bycatch, which includes all non-targeted species caught alongside the targeted species.

Bycatch = Incidental catch + Discarded catch

The operational definitions used by the FAO for incidental catch and other related catches are as follows:

• Target catch: The catch of a species or species assemblage which is primarily sought in a fishery, such as shrimp, flounders, cods
• Incidental catch: Retained catch of non-targeted species
• Discarded catch (usually shortened to discards): That portion of the catch returned to the sea as a result of economic, legal, or personal considerations.
• Bycatch: Discarded catch plus incidental catch.

Notes

1. Alverson DL, MH Freeberg, SA Murawski and Pope JG (1994) A global assessment of fisheries bycatch and discards FAO Fisheries, Technical paper 339, Rome. ISBN 92-5-103555-5.

References

• Johnson, Douglas H; Shaffer, Terry L and Gould, Patrick J (1990) Incidental Catch of Marine Birds in the North Pacific High Seas Driftnet Fisheries U.S. Geological Survey.
• Valdemarsen, John W Incidental catch of seabirds in longline fisheries UN Atlas of the Oceans: Fishery Technology Service.

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