NOAA has released its first national bycatch report from data collected in 2005 which will help the agency scientists better monitor progress in reducing bycatch - the non-target fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, and seabirds caught incidentally in fishing.

The 2006 reauthorization of the Magnuson Stevens Act, the nation's principal law for living marine resources, made bycatch reduction a priority, leading NOAA to establish a bycatch reduction program to develop technological devices and other conservation engineering solutions. Whilst the National Bycatch Report does not represent an estimate of current bycatch rates, it is the first to compile regional data about U.S. commercial fisheries into one nationwide report.