Mitigating Marine Mammal Bycatch: Technological and Economic Efficiency

Suggested Bibliographic Reference: Challenging New Frontiers in the Global Seafood Sector: Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, July 11-15, 2016. Compiled by Stefani J. Evers and Ann L. Shriver. International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET), Corvallis, 2016.Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.Bycatch in fishing gear remains the greatest single cause of serious injury and mortality for marine mammals worldwide. There are multiple challenges in reducing this bycatch, including assessment of the level of bycatch and its impact on the population, designing measures that effectively reduce bycatch while maintaining a viable fishery, and ensuring compliance with the regulations. Over the past few decades, marine mammal bycatch has been significantly reduced in the United States and a number of other countries, through an approach emphasizing top-down technological measures that dictate gear type and gear deployment. The effectiveness of this approach can be demonstrated in terms of declining bycatch in several countries. However, much progress remains to be made, particularly in coastal gillnet small-scale fisheries around the world. Furthermore, as with target species management, there is a growing need to implement measures that are an incentivizing approach to reducing marine mammal bycatch. In this paper, we note the major trends in bycatch of marine mammals and the measures that have been effective, and explore new approaches to bycatch management that will ensure economic efficiency in addition to technological efficiency