October 2016

The small population of North Atlantic right whales is in danger of extinction. These whales were hunted nearly to extinction by commercial whalers by the end of the 1700s, but today are at risk from entanglement in fishing gear and boat strikes.    At least 82% of the North Atlantic right whale population has been entangled […]

Changing the property of fishing lines so that they are less likely to catch or ensnare animals feeding at the surface or in the mid-water column. They include low profile line, a kind of rope linking lobster pots that might be suspended deep enough to avoid whale entanglements but with enough floatation to lie above […]

The use of loud explosive devices, including gunshots, to scare non-target species such as sea lions away from a fishing operation. Deterrence may result from noise or tactile annoyance. Anecdotal evidence from some fishermen suggests this practice is widespread though its efficacy is not backed up by a number of studies, and it obviously threatens […]

Audio recordings of an animal in distress, or of its predator, played to deter individuals of that species from entering into a fishing area. Jefferson and Curry (1996) concluded that this technique was largely ineffective for reducing marine mammal interactions with fishing activity based on their review of multiple studies. Submitted by admin on November […]

Konigson, S., Lovgren, J., Hjelm, J., Ovegard, M., Ljunghager, F., Lunneryd, S. [email protected], [email protected] Experiments were conducted along the Swedish coast to investigate the impact of seal exclusion devices (SEDs) on seal bycatch. Pot entrances were fitted with SEDs of different shapes and sizes. The pots were a two-chambered single entrance floating cod pot. Pots […]

Partan, J. and K. Ball, 2016, Rope-less fishing technology development, Final grant report to the Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction under NOAA Award # NA10NMF4520343 to the New England Aquarium, Boston, USA , ps 109-152. Knowlton, A.R., Robbins, J., Landry, S., McKenna, H.A., Kraus, S.D. and T.B. Werner, 2016, Implications of fishing rope strength on […]

Aalbers, S.A., Stutzer, G.M. and Drawbridge, M.A., 2004, The effects of catch-and-release angling on the growth and survival of juvenile white seabass captured on offset circle and J-type hooks, North American Journal of Fisheries Management, v.24, ps 793-800. Afonso, A., Hazin, F., Carvalho, F., Pacheco, J., Hazin, H., Kerstetter, D., Murie, D., Burgess, G., 2011, […]

Fjällinga, A., Wahlbergb, M. and Westerber, H., 2006, Acoustic harassment devices reduce seal interaction in the Baltic salmon-trap, net fishery, ICES Journal of Marine Science, v.63(9), ps 1751-1758. Foster, D.G., Epperly, S.P., Shah, A.K. and Watson, J.W. , 2012, Evaluation of hook and bait type on the catch rates in the western North Atlantic Ocean […]

Chosid, D.M., Pol, M., Szymanski, M., Mirarchi, F. and Mirarchi, A., 2012, Development and observations of spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias reduction device in a raised footrope silver hake Merluccius bilinearis trawl, Fisheries Research, v.114, ps 66-75. Christian, P. and Harrington, D, 1987, Loggerhead turtle, finfish and shrimp retention studies on four excluder devices (TEDs), In […]

Aguilar-Ramirez, D. and Rodriguez-Valencia, J.A. Bycatch reduction device prototypes (“RS_INP”) (industrial and artisanal versions) were tested on vessels targeting shrimp in the Gulf of California to compare bycatch-to-shrimp ratios, catch efficiency, drag resistence indicators, fuel consumption rate and selectivity with traditional versions.  The industrial version of the prototype reduced bycatch-to-shrimp ratios from 20-50% and shrimp […]

Yokota, K., Kiyota, M., Minami, H., 2006, Shark catch in pelagic longline fishery: Comparison of circle and tuna hooks, Fisheries Research, v.81, ps 337-341. Yokota, K., Minami, H. and Kiyota, M., 2008, Direct comparison of seabird avoidance effect between two types of tori lines in longline fishing experiments, Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, v.WCPFC-SC4-2008/EB-WP-7, […]

Gearin, P.J., Gosho, M.E., Laake, J.L., Cooke, L., Delong, R.L. & Hughes, K.M., 2000, Experimental testing of acoustic alarms (pingers) to reduce bycatch of harbor porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, in the state of Washington, Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, v.2(1), ps 1-9. Gearin, P.J., R. Pfeifer, S.J. Jeffries, R.L. DeLong, and M.A. Johnson., 1988, Results […]

Dietrich, K.S., Melvin, E.F., Conquest, L., 2008, Integrated weight longlines with paired streamer lines – best practice to prevent seabird bycatch in demersal longline, Biological Conservation, v.141, ps 1793-1805. Domingo, A., Pons, M., Jimenez, S., Miller, P., Barcelo, C. and Swimmer, Y., 2012, Circle hook performance in the Uruguayan pelagic longline fishery, Bulletin of Marine […]

Curran, D. and Bigelow, K., 2011, Effects of circle hooks on pelagic catches in the Hawaii-based tuna longline fishery, Fisheries Research, v.109, ps 265-275. Dahlheim, M.E., 1988, Killer whale (Orcinus orca) depredation on longline catches of sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) in Alaskan waters, NWAFC Processed Rep. 88-14. Alaska Fish. Sci. Cent., NMFS, NOAA, Seattle, Washington., ps […]