Workshop: Development and implementation of low-cost methods to reduce cetacean bycatch in small scale gillnet fisheries (29 Oct 2017)

Dear Colleagues,

If you are attending the 22st Biennal Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Halifax, Nova Scotia and working on bycatch issues we hope you will consider attending the following Workshop:

Development and implementation of low-cost methods to reduce cetacean bycatch in small scale gillnet fisheries

Description of Workshop:

Bycatch in gillnet fisheries is considered the most significant threat to cetaceans globally. In most cases cetacean bycatch rates are relatively low from a fishery perspective but high, and often unsustainable, from a cetacean population perspective. These are significant challenges to overcome when developing, testing and implementing potential bycatch mitigation measures. This Workshop focusses on low-cost cetacean bycatch solutions for small scale gillnet fisheries and is a follow-up to a similar Workshop organized at the SMM 2015. The Workshop will review available new bycatch reduction methodologies/gear modifications, and results from recent and ongoing bycatch mitigation trials. The Workshop will also identify areas and fisheries with relative high bycatch rates where bycatch mitigation trials may be conducted with high statistical power. This would be facilitated through development of collaborative international research proposals with participation of researchers from areas where trials are logistically difficult but where the results would be applicable. The Workshop will further review how to move from successful trial to implementation, particularly in locations and fisheries where legislation and enforcement may be absent. The Workshop will primarily address drift-and set gillnet fisheries and identify the most promising low-cost mitigation methods for both echo- and non-echolocating species. Workshop discussions will be introduced and stimulated by case study presentations.

We are looking for relevant case study presentations: please contact us if you plan to attend the Workshop and have a suggested presentation.

This will be a half day workshop with a maximum 50 participants.

Date/time: Sunday 29 October 2017. 08:00-12:00.

Organizers: Per Berggren (Newcastle University, UK) and Jeremy Kiszka (Florida International University)

For more information, please email: per.berggren@ncl.ac.uk

For more information about this and other SMM Workshops: http://www.smmconference.org/WorkshopDescriptions

 

Many thanks for considering this and we hope to see you at the Workshop.

Per Berggren & Jeremy Kiszka