maximios

The University of North Carolina Wilmington conducted tests on common commercially available longline hooks to measure the force required to pull the hooks through the soft and hard tissues of short-finned pilot whales, Risso’s dolphins, and false killer whales. The researchers found that the different materials the hooks were made of influenced how they bent […]

The North Atlantic right whale, a species restricted to the coastal northwest Atlantic, numbers fewer than 440 individuals and has been declining since 2010 (Pace et al. 2017; Pettis et al. 2017). Entanglement in fishing gear, especially in fixed gear like pots and gillnets, is the leading cause of human-induced mortality and serious injury, occurring […]

See global map of acoustic deterrent studies Tim Werner, Bycatch Consortium and NEAq US National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of International Affairs US National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of International Affairs Fishing Gear Modifications

Modifications to fishing gear can significantly mitigate bycatch without reducing a fishermen’s target catch.  To read about more examples of gear modifications search the Bycatch Reduction Technique Database.  The Consortium works with scientists and fishermen to test gear modifications that have the potential to reduce bycatch, while maintaining target catch, minimizing cost, and preserving fishermen’s […]

Fisheries bycatch is the principal threat to many marine mammals. In some cases, bycatch reduction devices have been shown to mitigate the bycatch of non-target species, but the scale of the problem outpaces progress in finding solutions. In particular, bycatch in coastal gillnet fisheries is one of the most immediate threats facing many marine mammal […]

The Australian sea lion population decreased due to harvests in the 17th and 18th centuries and traditional subsistence hunting by aborigines (Goldsworhty & Gales 2008). Isolated reports of deliberate killings have persisted into the 21st century as well (DEWHA 2010). Although the species is now protected by Australian law throughout its range, recovery towards pre-sealing […]

Fisheries bycatch is the principal threat to many marine mammals. In some cases, bycatch reduction devices have been shown to mitigate the bycatch of non-target species, but the scale of the problem outpaces progress in finding solutions. In particular, bycatch in coastal gillnet fisheries is one of the most immediate threats facing many marine mammal […]

Gillnet fisheries pose the greatest threat to the vaquita population. Current bycatch estimates are unavailable, but in the early 1990s an estimated 39 to 84 individuals were caught by fishermen from one town (D’Agrosa et al 2000).  In 2014, CIRVA reported that probably only 100 individuals remain of this species, and the population was projected to […]

NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Bycatch regulations, research, monitoring, and engineering carried out by the National Marine Fisheries Service of the United States.  NOAA’s Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations A global assessment of fisheries bycatch and discards   The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Information on the status of […]

Knowlton, A.R., Robbins, J., Landry, S., McKenna, H.A., Kraus, S.D. and T.B. Werner New England Aquarium, Central Wharf, Boston, MA 02110; [email protected] This study investigated the impact of rope polymer type, breaking strength and diameter in relation to the injury severity of entangled baleen whales, primarily North Atlantic Right whales (Eubalaena glacialis). Fishing gear removed […]

Underwater sound-emitting devices (maximum level of intensity equivalent to approximately 175 dB re 1 µPa @ 1m) attached to fishing gear, principally gillnets. [Under NOAA’s Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan for the Gulf of Maine, the sound output intensity for pingers is stipulated as 10 (±2) kHz at 132 (±4) dB re 1 µPa @ […]

Submitted by Kate McClellan on May 13, 2011 – 13:22 Do circle hooks reduce bycatch?…It depends. Last week, NOAA hosted over 160 marine scientists, fisheries managers, gear experts, and commercial and recreational fishermen, from 20 countries, in Coral Gables, FL, for the first international symposium on circle hooks in research, management and conservation.  While we […]

Mortality from longline bycatch threatens marine mammal species and populations such as the false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) in the insular Hawaiian Islands, and Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) and pilot whales (Globicephala spp.) in the Northwest Atlantic. Fishermen also lose valuable target catch due to marine mammal depredation, and as a result, may face fishing […]

Bycatch is the principal and most immediate threat to many species and populations of marine mammals. In many parts of the world, especially in countries with large artisanal fishing sectors, the extent of this bycatch is largely undocumented. This project will take the initial step of understanding the bycatch associated with particular fisheries—industrial and small-scale—in […]