Fisheries bycatch is a key threat to cetacean species globally. Managing the impact requires an understanding of the conditions under which animals are caught and the sections of the population affected. We used observer data collected on an albacore tuna gillnet fishery in the northeast Atlantic, to assess operational and environmental factors contributing to bycatch of common and striped dolp...

Citation: Lezama-Ochoa N, Murua H, Hall M, Román M, Ruiz J, Vogel N, Caballero A and Sancristobal I (2017) Biodiversity and Habitat Characteristics of the Bycatch Assemblages in Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) and School Sets in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Front. Mar. Sci. 4:265. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2017.00265 Biodiversity and Habitat Characteristics of the Bycatch Assemblages in Fish Aggregating...

The impact of scallop dredging on benthic megafauna was assessed by direct observation of damage, both in the bycatch and in organisms encountering dredges but not captured. Damage was assessed using a simple 4point scale adapted for different taxonomic groups. Experimental dredging was undertaken on a scallop fishing ground in the north Irish Sea, off the Isle of Man. Divers were deployed imme...

quota in the Kattegat region between Sweden and Denmark, the Irish Sea and the west of Scotland. Environmental groups have long called for the industry to adopt new technologies and practices that can substantially reduce 'bycatch'. Larger mesh size is one straightforward measure that can save more juvenile fish. Charles Clover, author of The End Of The Line, said: " It is ridiculous that we ca...

Fisheries bycatch of marine animals has been linked to population declines of multiple species, including many sea turtles. Altering the visual cues associated with fishing gear may reduce sea turtle bycatch. We examined the effectiveness of illuminating gillnets with ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes for reducing green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) interactions. We found that the mean sea t...

and customary fishers mainly take white sharks as bycatch in gillnets, and occasionally on longlines (Duffy unpubl. data). Sport fisheries for white sharks in New Zealand are largely undeveloped and fishers often tag and release those they do catch (Mossman 1993; Wilson 2002). A protective beach meshing programme run by Dunedin City Council (DCC) operates seasonally off Brighton, St. Clair and ...

To improve the effectiveness of tori-lines it is necessary to evaluate the ability of tori-lines to mitigate seabird bycatch and determine what kind of seabird species gather during line settings, attack the bait and are incidentally caught. We conducted two experiments in the western North Pacific and examined the effectiveness for seabird mitigation of light streamer tori-lines which have no ...

The current harvest policy for the Pacific halibut fishery uses a 32-inch minimum size limit in the directed commercial fishery, and total annual catches in each of the eight regulatory areas are based on area-specific exploitation rate targets. In nondirected fisheries retention of halibut is prohibited. Post-release survival rates are gear dependent and partially based on observer accounts of...