ISSF scientific research reports are available to download in PDF format. We hope you find them valuable, and we appreciate your support of our work.

The covers of our reports include suggested citations to make it easy to cite ISSF reports in your own research. Many of our reports are resources for fishery improvement projects (FIPs)

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See also our best practices reports.

ISSF 2019-11: Recommended Best Practices for FAD Management in Tropical Tuna Purse Seine Fisheries

Date Added: August 21, 2019
Authors: Dr. Victor Restrepo, Holly Koehler, Dr. Gala Moreno, Dr. Hilario Murua
Downloaded: 1325 times
Tags: Best Practices, FADs, Purse Seine
Language: English
Featured: False
Report Type: Technical Report

Description

Many industrial purse seiners use drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) in tropical tuna fisheries. Management of the FAD component of these fisheries has been increasingly the focus of Regional Fishery Management Organizations and stakeholders such as ISSF.

ISSF and other NGOs have put together lists of the elements that they consider to be most important for effective management of FADs. This paper expands upon the six elements of management that ISSF considers to be of utmost importance:

(i) Complying with flag state and RFMO reporting requirements by set type
(ii) Voluntarily reporting additional FAD buoy data for use by RFMO science bodies
(iii) Supporting science-based FAD limits
(iv) Using non-entangling FADs to reduce ghost fishing
(v) Mitigating other environmental impacts due to FAD loss including through the use of biodegradable FADs and FAD recovery policies
(vi) Implementing further mitigation efforts for silky sharks.

We provide practical examples that fleets could adopt as their FAD management policies.

See also our related “Purse Seine FIPs Best Practices Checklist” and our RFMO Best Practices Snapshot on FAD Management.