Unanswered Forum Topics

The University of North Carolina Wilmington conducted tests on common commercially available longline hooks to measure the force required to pull the hooks through the soft and hard tissues of short-finned pilot whales, Risso's dolphins, and false killer whales. The researchers found that the different materials the hooks were made of influenced how they bent or broke when pulled through the odontocete tissue.

The University of North Carolina Wilmington conducted tests on common commercially available longline hooks to measure the force required to pull the hooks through the soft and hard tissues of short-finned pilot whales, Risso's dolphins, and false killer whales. The researchers found that the different materials the hooks were made of influenced how they bent or broke when pulled through the odontocete tissue.

Bottom-set gillnet fisheries that target flounder in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina are responsible for incidentally taking juvenile sea turtles during the fall months. This is expecially problematic given that it is the State's most valuable finfish fishery. The Division of Marine Fisheries has employed a variety of management tools to address this problem including: closed areas, mandatory permits, reporting and observer coverage, gear restrictions, net attendance, goals for reduced strandings, and incidental take limits.

Fisheries bycatch is the principal threat to many marine mammals. In some cases, bycatch reduction devices have been shown to mitigate the bycatch of non-target species, but the scale of the problem outpaces progress in finding solutions.

Mortality from longline bycatch threatens marine mammal species and populations such as the false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) in the insular Hawaiian Islands, and Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) and pilot whales (Globicephala spp.) in the Northwest Atlantic. Fishermen also lose valuable target catch due to marine mammal depredation, and as a result, may face fishing restrictions that affect their bottom line. 

Bycatch is the principal and most immediate threat to many species and populations of marine mammals. In many parts of the world, especially in countries with large artisanal fishing sectors, the extent of this bycatch is largely undocumented. This project will take the initial step of understanding the bycatch associated with particular fisheries—industrial and small-scale—in Ecuador, Chile, and Thailand, so that bycatch reduction programs can be directed at the fisheries where they are most needed. 

Many species of elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) are incidentally caught in pelagic longline fisheries. Sometimes shark bycatch exceeds the amount of target fish that is caught (e.g. tuna). 

Many species of elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) are incidentally caught in pelagic longline fisheries. Sometimes shark bycatch exceeds the amount of target fish that is caught (e.g. tuna).