Problems and issues of conversion of gillnetting fleet of Pakistan to longlining with the aim to reduce bycatch

WWF-Pakistan in collaboration with Government of Pakistan is in process of conversion from tuna gillnetting to longlining. Tuna gillnetting is known to have high bycatch of ETP species as well as tuna caught through this method fetches very low prices in the international market. There are a number of issues that is expected to be faced if conversion from gillnetting to longlining, however, these issues and obstacles can be addressed adequately and tuna longlining in Pakistan will be a successful operation. Experimental longlining was conducted by WWF-Pakistan which indicated adequate potential of tuna longlining in Pakistan.