In 1992, the eastern Canadian gillnet fisheries for northern cod and Atlantic salmon were largely closed. These large-scale fishery closures resulted in the removal of tens of thousands of gillnets known to inflict high levels of seabird mortality. We used this unprecedented opportunity to test the effects of gillnet removal on seabird populations. Consistent with predictions, we show that the ...

The European Standard EN 14757 recommends gillnet mesh sizes that range from 5 to 55mm (knot-to-knot) for the standard monitoring of fish assemblages and suggests adding gillnets with larger mesh sizes if necessary. Our research showed that the recommended range of mesh sizes did not provide a representative picture of fish sizes for larger species that commonly occur in continental Europe. We ...

Illegal harvest is recognized as a widespread problem in natural resource management. The use of multiple methods for quantifying illegal harvest has been widely recommended yet infrequently applied. We used a mixed-method approach to evaluate the extent, character, and motivations of illegal gillnet fishing in Lake Hovsgol National Park, Mongolia and its impact on the lake's fish populations, ...

Gillnet fisheries are strongly size-selective and seem to produce changes in size at maturity for exploited fishes. After Word War II, large-scale gillnet fisheries targeted Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the high seas area of the North Pacific and the Bering Sea, but these fisheries were closed in 1993. To assess the effects of this high seas gillnet fishery (and its closing) on size at...

From 1995 to 2006, US federal fisheries observers deployed aboard commercial fishing vessels in the US mid-Atlantic region documented captures of loggerhead Caretta caretta, green Chelonia mydas, Kemp’s ridley Lepidochelys kempii, and leatherback Dermochelys coriacea turtles in commercial sink gillnet gear. Data collected by these observers were used to characterize sea turtle bycatch in sink g...

A stu~$~ o/the acoustic backxatteringproduced by m army of scattering spheresfixed to ajishing net is reported. The System enhances net detection and also allows net identijcation by using a method in which the echogram is arranged to resemble a commercial bar-code. A simplijied theoretical model has been developed to shrdy the inlerference due to echo formation. This model establishes the rela...

Fisheries bycatch of marine animals has been linked to population declines of multiple species, including many sea turtles. Altering the visual cues associated with fishing gear may reduce sea turtle bycatch. We examined the effectiveness of illuminating gillnets with ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes for reducing green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) interactions. We found that the mean sea t...

In 1992, the first listings of Columbia River salmon under the Endangered Species Act occurred. Regulation of the Columbia River gillnet fishery since that time has greatly reduced fishing time and economic return to the fishing fleet. The counties where two-thirds of the gillnetters reside have registered negative social statistics during this period, including drug and alcohol abuse rates, in...

Derelict fishing gear persists for decades and impacts marine species and underwater habitats. Agencies and organizations are removing significant amounts of derelict gear from marine waters in the United States. Using data collected from repeated survey dives on derelict gillnets in Puget Sound, Washington, we estimated the daily catch rate of a given derelict gillnet, and developed a model to...

to estimate the fish composition and catchability coefficient of gillnet, a survey was carried out during april 2011 to march 2012 in the shadegan wetland, khuzestan province, iran. samples were collected from five stations viz., mahshar, rogbe, khorosy, ‍salmane and atish. approximately 4300 fish specimens were measured and depletion method was used for the estimation of catchability coefficie...