Bottom-set gillnet fisheries that target flounder in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina are responsible for incidentally taking juvenile sea turtles during the fall months. This is expecially problematic given that it is the State’s most valuable finfish fishery. The Division of Marine Fisheries has employed a variety of management tools to address this problem including: closed […]
September 2025
Field tests of acoustic devices on groundfish gillnets: assessment of effectiveness in reducing harbour porpoise by-catch | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction
Gillnets equipped with acoustic pingers caught only one harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) compared to 42 caught in control nets off of New Hampshire, USA. Alarms sounds are above groundfish hearing and are not expected to affect fish catch.
Prevalence of visible injuries to leatherback sea turtles Dermochelys coriacea in the northwest Atlantic | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction
Standardized external injury assessments were used to investigate the relative importance of direct anthropogenic and natural threats to northwest Atlantic leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea). The information was used to assess whether the susceptibility to these threats varies between low latitude nesting and high latitude foraging region, by size and sex. Leatherback turtles foraging off the […]
Shrink and defend: a comparison of two streamer line designs in the 2009 South Africa tuna fishery | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction
Two types of streamer lines, a “light” with short streamers and a “hybrid” with mixed long and short streamers, were tested in the Japanese joint venture tuna fishery that operates in the South African EEZ. The authors also looked at differences in catch rates between weighted and unweighted branchlines. The mean total attack rate was […]
Impact of a bycatch reduction device on diamondback terrapin and blue crab capture in crab pots | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction
A trap modification reduced bycatch of diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) in a blue crab (Callinectes sepidus) pot fishery in the Patuxent River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Three wire modifications were tested and found that terrapin bycatch can be reduced without decreasing the number or size of captured crabs.
Fishery-specific solutions to seabird bycatch in the U.S. West Coast sablefish fishery | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction
The study assessed the efficacy of applying bird scaring line regulations from the demersal longline fishery in Alaska to a similar fishery along the U.S. West Coast. However, unlike in the Alaskan sablefish fishery, some U.S. West Coast sablefish vessels utilize floated longlines. Results from the study confirmed that bird scaring regulations from Alaska were […]
Assessing the importance of net color as a seabird bycatch mitigation measure in gillnet fishing | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction
The ability of little penguins (Eudyptula minor) to distinguish differently colored netting materials was tested under controlled conditions to test gillnet color as a potential bycatch mitigation technique. Clear, green, and orange colored monofilament were tested in the form of a gillnet mimic in an enclosed tank containing 25 penguins. Orange colored monofilament line resulted […]
Summer and long-term job oppotunities | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction
This summer, the Boston office of the Fund for the Public Interest is building support to save the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale! With only 360 individuals left, this species’ population is still declining due to human interaction. We are calling on the Biden administration to pass a rule to slow vessel speeds to avoid deadly […]
Evaluating the efficacy of various types of guarding nets in minimizing bycatch in a Mediterranean trammel net fishery | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction
This study examined the effectiveness of various sizes of guarding nets to reduce bycatch (specifically crustaceans) in cuttlefish trammel net fisheries. All nets did siginificantly reduce crustacean capture, notably spider crabs, but only the smaller mesh guarding net (20mm instead of 40mm) had no significant impact on target cuttlefish catch. However, guardnets may benefit fishers […]
Sharks, retention bans, and bycatch | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction
Sharks among the most endangered groups of animals from bycatch. A new study examined the impacts of retention bans on shark populations. It concluded that in some cases they can be beneficial, but avoiding bycatch in the first place is of paramount importance such as making modifications to fishing gear and practices. Article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/faf.12892
Scalloped Hammerhead Shark Declared Overfished in the US Atlantic | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) determined that the scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini), an Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS), is overfished (NOAA 04/28/2011). This finding is based on a stock assessment of the population in US Atlantic waters published by Hayes et al (2009) in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management. His study, completed […]