Active Forum Topics
New award to evaluate ropeless fishing
Our gear team has been awarded a grant from NOAA's Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program to evaluate offshore ropeless gear for reducing whale entanglements in pot fisheries
A collaboration between our fishing gear team, offshore lobster fishermen, and engineers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Insitution, received one of 14 national grants awarded under NOAA's Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program (BREP).
Project Title: Testing a ropeless fishing prototype for eliminating large whale entanglements in pot fishing gear
Setting baited hooks by stealth (underwater) can prevent the incidental mortality of albatrosses and petrels in pelagic longline fisheries
Experiments on the use of sea bird mitigation methods were conducted aboard Uruguayan pelagic longliners between 2010 and 2012. Experiments looked at the difference between setting bait at the sea surface and setting baits underwater. The researchers recorded the abundance of sea birds following the vessel and incidences of attacks on bait and mortality. When the bait was set underwater, there was a marked reduction in the number of seabirds following the vessel and attacks on bait.
Setting baited hooks by stealth (underwater) can prevent the incidental mortality of albatrosses and petrels in pelagic longline fisheries
Setting baited hooks by stealth (underwater) can prevent the incidental mortality of albatrosses and petrels in pelagic longline fisheries
Setting baited hooks by stealth (underwater) can prevent the incidental mortality of albatrosses and petrels in pelagic longline fisheries
Spatiotemporal patterns of overlap between short-finned pilot whales and the U.S. pelagic longline fishery in the Mid-Atlantic Bight: an assessment to inform the management of fisheries bycatch
This research examined the spatial and temporal characteristics of pilot whale habitat use and longline fishing effort. The information was used to assess the potential for a spatial management approach to mitigate pilot whale bycatch. The Area Under the Curve and Williamson's Spatial Overlap Index were both used to assess patterns of overlap and bycatch by applying them to telemetry data from short-finned pilot whales, longline fishery effort and Pelagic Observer Program (POP) data (2014-2015).
Spatiotemporal patterns of overlap between short-finned pilot whales and the U.S. pelagic longline fishery in the Mid-Atlantic Bight: an assessment to inform the management of fisheries bycatch
Spatiotemporal patterns of overlap between short-finned pilot whales and the U.S. pelagic longline fishery in the Mid-Atlantic Bight: an assessment to inform the management of fisheries bycatch
Dr. Alexia Morgan
Dr. Alexia Morgan has been working in the field of fisheries for over twenty years. Alexia began her career as a fisheries observer, obtaining her masters in marine biology and doctorate in fisheries and aquatic sciences. Alexia’s doctorate focused on a modeling project looking at ways to protect the dusky shark in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. Alexia’s work interests focus on large pelagic species, namely sharks and tunas, the fisheries that target them and the bycatch associated with these fisheries.
Incremental fishing gear modifications fail to significantly reduce large whale serious injury rates
The annual counts of large whale entanglements (including serious injury and mortalities) were analyzed and used to assess the effectiveness of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan. Fishing gear entanglements related to the annual number of mortality events averaged 2.5 for right whales (Eubalaena glacialis), 5.6 for humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae), 0.6 for fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) and 2.4 for minke whales (B. acutorostrata).
Incremental fishing gear modifications fail to significantly reduce large whale serious injury rates
Incremental fishing gear modifications fail to significantly reduce large whale serious injury rates
Incremental fishing gear modifications fail to significantly reduce large whale serious injury rates
Incremental fishing gear modifications fail to significantly reduce large whale serious injury rates
State-space mark-recapture estimates reveal a recent decline in abundance of North Atlantic right whales
A state-space model, using the Jolly-Seber assumption about population entry, was used to characterize the changing abundance of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) between 1990 and 2015. Estimates from this modeling approach were only slightly higher than published values, except for the most recent years (capture rates substantially declined). North Atlantic right whale abundance increased about 2.8%/annually from the median estimate of 270 individuals in 1990 to 483 in 2010, followed by a decline to 458 in 2015.
State-space mark-recapture estimates reveal a recent decline in abundance of North Atlantic right whales
State-space mark-recapture estimates reveal a recent decline in abundance of North Atlantic right whales
Health of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis over three decades: from individual health to demographic and population health trends
Photographic data on body and skin condition, blowhole cyamids and rake marks were used to evaluate the health of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) from 1980-2008. A hierarchical Bayesian model was applied to the data to estimate demographic groups, underlying health status conditions and the population to characterize health patterns and temporal trends. Visual health scores (0-100 scale) (N=48,560) were used to estimate the health of 622 identified right whales on a monthly basis. Most whales’ health scores fluctuated between 70 and 90.