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Marine vertebrate bycatch: problems and solutions

One of the first ESR Specials (Fisheries bycatch: problems and solutions [2008]) explored the burgeoning field of bycatch research, focusing primarily on bycatch of sea turtles, sea birds and marine mammals. Many of its 24 articles became highly influential. Even a decade ago, bycatch of marine megafauna was not a new problem in fisheries management but was already recognized as being of pressing conservation concern. In the intervening years, research into both the problem of fisheries bycatch and the possible solutions has advanced in great strides. This ESR Special assesses where the situation has improved or worsened and identifies the key opportunities and barriers to making progress.

Articles belonging to this Special were published upon completion in the respective volume of ESR. They are listed below as well as on the contents page of the respective volume of publication.

Status: Complete.

Organizer: Brendan Godley

Editors: Joanna Alfaro Shigueto, Paolo Casale, Louise Chilvers, Austin Gallagher, Eric Gilman, Brendan Godley, Simon Goldsworthy, Mark Hamann, Sasha Hooker, Jeremy Kiszka, Rebecca Lewison, Helene Marsh, Jeff Mangel, Bryan Wallace

Crawford R, Ellenberg U, Frere E, Hagen C, Baird K, Brewin P, Crofts S, Glass J, Mattern T, Pompert J, Ross K, Kemper J, Ludynia K, Sherley RB, Steinfurth A, Suazo CG, Yorio P, Tamini L, Mangel JC, Bugoni L, Jiménez Uzcátegui G, Simeone A, Luna-Jorquera G, Gandini P, Woehler EJ, Pütz K, Dann P, Chiaradia A, Small C

REVIEW: Tangled and drowned: a global review of penguin bycatch in fisheries

ESR 34:373-396 | Full text in pdf format

Koopman M, Boag S, Tuck GN, Hudson R, Knuckey I, Alderman R

Industry-based development of effective new seabird mitigation devices in the southern Australian trawl fisheries

ESR 36:197-211 | Full text in pdf format

Braun McNeill J, Goodman Hall A, Richards PM

Trends in fishery-dependent captures of sea turtles in a western North Atlantic foraging region

ESR 36:315-324 | Full text in pdf format

Lowry LF, Burkanov VN, Altukhov A, Weller DW, Reeves RR

Entanglement risk to western gray whales from commercial fisheries in the Russian Far East

ESR 37:133-148 | Full text in pdf format

Kenney RD

NOTE: What if there were no fishing? North Atlantic right whale population trajectories without entanglement mortality

ESR 37:233-237 | Full text in pdf format

Basran CJ, Bertulli CG, Cecchetti A, Rasmussen MH, Whittaker M, Robbins J

First estimates of entanglement rate of humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae observed in coastal Icelandic waters

ESR 38:67-77 | Full text in pdf format

Rojas-Bracho L, Gulland FMD, Smith CR, Taylor B, Wells RS, Thomas PO, Bauer B, Heide-Jørgensen MP, Teilmann J, Dietz R, Balle JD, Jensen MV, Sinding MHS, Jaramillo-Legorreta A, Abel G, Read AJ, Westgate AJ, Colegrove K, Gomez F, Martz K, Rebolledo R, Ridgway S, Rowles T, van Elk CE, Boehm J, Cardenas-Hinojosa G, Constandse R, Nieto-Garcia E, Phillips W, Sabio D, Sanchez R, Sweeney J, Townsend F, Vivanco J, Vivanco JC, Walker S

A field effort to capture critically endangered vaquitas Phocoena sinus for protection from entanglement in illegal gillnets

ESR 38:11-27 | Full text in pdf format

Jounela P, Sipilä T, Koskela J, Tiilikainen R, Auttila M, Niemi M, Kunnasranta M

Incidental bycatch mortality and fishing restrictions: impacts on juvenile survival in the Endangered Saimaa ringed seal Pusa hispida saimensis

ESR 38:91-99 | Full text in pdf format

Zollett EA, Swimmer Y

REVIEW: Safe handling practices to increase post-capture survival of cetaceans, sea turtles, seabirds, sharks, and billfish in tuna fisheries

ESR 38:115-125 | Full text in pdf format

Goad D, Debski I, Potts J

Hookpod-mini: a smaller potential solution to mitigate seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries

ESR 39:1-8 | Full text in pdf format

Thomas PO, Gulland FMD, Reeves RR, Kreb D, Ding W, Smith B, Malik MI, Ryan GE, Phay S

REVIEW: Electrofishing as a potential threat to freshwater cetaceans

ESR 39:207-220 | Full text in pdf format

Hamilton PK, Kraus SD

Frequent encounters with the seafloor increase right whales’ risk of entanglement in fishing groundlines

ESR 39:235-246 | Full text in pdf format

Brownell Jr RL, Reeves RR, Read AJ, Smith BD, Thomas PO, Ralls K, Amano M, Berggren P, Chit AM, Collins T, Currey R, Dolar MLL, Genov T, Hobbs RC, Kreb D, Marsh H, Zhigang M, Perrin WF, Phay S, Rojas-Bracho L, Ryan GE, Shelden KEW, Slooten E, Taylor BL, Vidal O, Ding W, Whitty TS, Wang JY

REVIEW: Bycatch in gillnet fisheries threatens Critically Endangered small cetaceans and other aquatic megafauna

ESR 40:285-296 | Full text in pdf format

Connor Blades D, Walcott J, Horrocks JA

Leatherback bycatch in an eastern Caribbean artisanal longline fishery

ESR 40:329-335 | Full text in pdf format

Anderson RC, Herrera M, Ilangakoon AD, Koya KM, Moazzam M, Mustika PL, Sutaria DN

Cetacean bycatch in Indian Ocean tuna gillnet fisheries

ESR 41:39-53 | Full text in pdf format

Warraich N, Wyneken J, Blume N

Feeding behavior and visual field differences in loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles may explain differences in longline fisheries interactions

ESR 41:67-77 | Full text in pdf format

López-Mendilaharsu M, Giffoni B, Monteiro D, Prosdocimi L, Vélez-Rubio GM, Fallabrino A, Estrades A, Santos AS, Lara PH, Pires T, Tiwari M, Bolten AB, Marcovaldi MÂ

Multiple-threats analysis for loggerhead sea turtles in the southwest Atlantic Ocean

ESR 41:183-196 | Full text in pdf format

Castro C, Van Waerebeek K, Cárdenas D, Alava JJ

Marine mammals used as bait for improvised fish aggregating devices in marine waters of Ecuador, eastern tropical Pacific

ESR 41:289-302 | Full text in pdf format

Hines E, Ponnampalam LS, Junchompoo C, Peter C, Vu L, Huynh T, Caillat M, Johnson AF, Minton G, Lewison RL, Verutes GM

Getting to the bottom of bycatch: a GIS-based toolbox to assess the risk of marine mammal bycatch

ESR 42:37-57 | Full text in pdf format