Fishers’ Perception on the Interaction between Dolphins and Fishing Activities in Italian and Croatian Waters

Interactions between fishing and dolphins can be detrimental, since on one hand lethally entangled by nets trawls, the other predate fish caught nets. For dolphins, this interaction dangerous as they wounded or accidentally killed; for fishers, predation of their catch results in economic losses due to reduced quantity and/or quality catches damage gear. During July November 2020, we surveyed “dolphin–fisheries conflict” through compiling 209 fisher interviews from nine locations Italy Croatia. Fishers mentioned common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) species primarily interacting with fishing, major issue being predation. The probability varied among gears seasons, some activities (e.g., passive nets) more affected than others bottom trawls), especially terms loss (1000–10,000 €/year average). More 70% fishers claimed that populations have increased over last 10 years, different degrees based areas. Dolphin bycatch rates are generally low; however, 34.6% respondents reported having captured at least during career. fishers’ attitude towards acoustic deterrents (“pingers”) a mitigation measure revealed few them were aware these devices using them.