Best Practices for Assessing and Managing Bycatch of Marine Mammals

Assessing marine mammal bycatch is no simple feat. Several barriers exist for properly assessing bycatch, most pointedly, lack of resources such as funding, training, and capacity needed to carry out assessment programs, making it challenging for nations to comply with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) Import Provisions. A new publication from the MMPA Bycatch Working Group outlines a comprehensive framework for fisheries managers to design or enhance marine mammal bycatch programs:

1. Plan for an assessment of bycatch
2. Collect appropriate data (e.g., abundance and bycatch estimates)
3. Conduct a bycatch assessment by calculating a reference point
4. Use the results of the assessment to guide marine mammal bycatch reduction

Read the full paper here.

Reference

Wade, P.R., Long, K.J., Francis, T.B., Punt, A.E., Hammond, P.S., Heinemann, D., Moore, J.E., Reeves, R.R., Sepúlveda, M., Sullaway, G., Már Sigurðsson, G., Siple, M.C., Víkingsson, G., Williams, R., Zerbini, A.N. (2021). Best Practices for Assessing and Managing Bycatch of Marine Mammals. Frontiers in Marine Science. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.757330