Improving bycatch mitigation measures for marine megafauna in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Comparing bycatch mitigation strategies for vulnerable marine megafauna

Marine megafauna such as seabirds, marine mammals and sea turtles are subject to high mortality from incidental capture or bycatch in fisheries. Recent research suggests that fishing effort is increasing worldwide, highlighting the need to evaluate strategies intended to reduce marine megafauna bycatch. Here, we use three focal species (i.e. leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea, black-footed...

Conservation of marine megafauna through minimization of fisheries bycatch.

Many populations of marine megafauna, including seabirds, sea turtles, marine mammals, and elasmobranchs, have declined in recent decades due largely to anthropogenic mortality. To successfully conserve these long-lived animals, efforts must be prioritized according to feasibility and the degree to which they address threats with the highest relative impacts on population dynamics. Recently, Wi...

Understanding impacts of fisheries bycatch on marine megafauna

Artisanal: fisheries that are small scale and subsistence in nature, in contrast to industrial. Artisanal fishing effort is often unmonitored by regional fishery commissions. Bycatch: the incidental take of undesirable size or age classes of the target species (e.g. juveniles or large females), or to the incidental take of other nontarget species. Individuals caught as bycatch can be unharmed, ...

Reducing bycatch of marine megafauna through interfishery conservation resource

Contextualising the coupled socio-ecological conditions of marine megafauna bycatch

We apply an integrated and interdisciplinary conceptual framework to assess the potential for uptake of bycatch reduction measures by small-scale fisheries along the Andaman coast and eastern Gulf of Thailand, and in Sabah, Malaysia. Specifically, we characterize the current governance, socio-economic, ecological, and scientific context for marine megafauna bycatch, and identify the enabling an...