Our “snapshots” identify best practices that Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) should follow to manage tuna fisheries sustainably.

In detailed tables, the snapshots compare tuna RFMO progress in implementing the practices.

For a high-level comparison across the five RFMOs, see our Tuna RFMO Best Practice Performance “scorecard” below. We also publish companion “best-practices reports” on these topics and “RFMO progress” infographics.

ISSF 2018-20: Compendium of at-Sea Bycatch Mitigation Research Activities as of September 2018*

Date Added: October 4, 2018
Authors: Dr. Victor Restrepo, Dr. Laurent Dagorn, Dr. Gala Moreno, K. Schaefer, Fabien Forget, Igor Sancristobal, David Itano, Dr. Melanie Hutchinson
Downloaded: 592 times
Tags: Acoustic Discrimination, Bigeye Tuna, Biodegradable FADs, Bycatch, Bycatch Mitigation, Purse Seine, Rays, science, Sea Turtles, Sharks
Language: English
Featured: False
Report Type: Technical Report

Description

ISSF conducts at-sea research to investigate potential mitigation measures for tropical tuna purse seiners, especially to reduce catches of bigeye tuna and sharks. Research activities can be classified in one of four hierarchical stages along a fishing trip: 1) Passive mitigation, 2) Avoid catching bycatch, 3) Release bycatch from the net, and 4) Release bycatch from the deck.

This Technical Report summarizes all of the at-sea research that ISSF has conducted through September 2018, in chronological order. Most of the research has been done onboard tuna purse-seine fishing vessels, but other vessel types have been used.

For each research activity, a table that summarizes the objectives, methods, results and conclusions is presented. Following each research activity, there is a list of publications (peer reviewed as well as other literature) derived from that activity.

The Conclusions section at the end of this report highlights some of the main findings of these research activities, with a focus on sharks, bigeye tuna, and turtles.

This report is an update of ISSF 2016-13A, which covered research activities through December 2016.