Transferable Fishing Concessions (TFC): A pilot study on the applicability in the Mediterranean Sea

Lucchetti, Alessandro; Piccinetti, Corrado; Meconi, Uriano; Frittelloni, Cristina; Marchesan, Mara; Palladino, Silvia; Virgili, Massimo

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2013.10.009

Cited by 21 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…In recent years, a potential bycatch reduction strategy for set nets fisheries has been connected to alteration of visual cues with lights. LED lamps and light sticks attached to gillnet float lines (Wang et al, 2010(Wang et al, , 2013Lucchetti et al, 2014;Ortiz et al, 2016;Virgili et al, 2018) have proven to be effective in decreasing turtle bycatch rates while preserving target species catch rates. The bycatch reduction observed ranged from 39.7 to 63.9% for Northern and Southern Pacific coasts by illuminating gillnets with green light (Wang et al, 2010;Ortiz et al, 2016) or UV light (Wang et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Sea Turtle Bycatch in the Mediterranean Mixed Demersal Fisheries

et al. 2019

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The sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is the most common sea turtle in the Mediterranean, where incidental catches due to fishing activities are considered the main threat to its conservation. Over 50,000 capture events and likely over 10,000 deaths are estimated to occur in the Italian waters alone. However, current knowledge on the interaction of sea turtles with fishing gears and the implementation of mitigation measures are still poor to hinder the decline of turtle populations in the Mediterranean. In this basin, where fisheries are multispecies, multi-gears and multinational, making demersal fishing activities profitable while preserving sea turtles is a challenge. This study aimed to develop bycatch reducer devices (BRDs) and alternative fishing gears to mitigate the impact of demersal fishing gears on sea turtles: (a) hard and flexible turtle excluder devices (TEDs) were tested in bottom trawling to immediately exclude turtles from the net; (b) visual deterrents (ultraviolet LEDs) were used to illuminate set nets and to alter turtle visual cues, avoiding entanglement during depredation activity. The results showed the different devices did not affect the commercial catch, while bycatch reduction was instead evident. Thus, the study highlights that introducing mitigation measures to reduce sea turtle bycatch in the Mediterranean, where the bycatch of vulnerable species seems as a global issue, can be possible at least in certain areas and periods. Considering fishermen reticence to change the gear traditionally used, determining the optimal gear configuration to minimize commercial loss while reducing bycatch, is the main issue while introducing new technologies. Therefore, a global effort should be done to introduce BRDs in different areas and fisheries of the Mediterranean.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Sea Turtle Bycatch in the Mediterranean Mixed Demersal Fisheries

et al. 2019

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“…Over the past decade, social studies have explored the fishermen’s perspective in view of the design of innovative management approaches (Griffin, 2009; Lucchetti et al, 2014; Santiago et al, 2015). More recently, the bottom up-approach (fishermen’s perspective and stakeholder engagement) has also been applied in biological and ecological studies (Lewison et al, 2011; Kiszka, 2012; Nguyen et al, 2013) to examine several issues, including fisheries bycatch.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An interview-based approach to assess sea turtle bycatch in Italian waters

Lucchetti

Vasapollo

Virgili

2017

PeerJ

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The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta, Linnaeus, 1758) is the most abundant sea turtle species in the Mediterranean Sea, where commercial fishing appears to be the main driver of mortality. So far, information on sea turtle bycatch in Italy is limited both in space and time due to logistical problems in data collected through onboard observations and on a limited number of vessels involved. In the present study, sea turtle bycatch in Italian waters was examined by collecting fishermen’s information on turtle bycatch through an interview-based approach. Their replies enabled the identification of bycatch hotspots in relation to area, season and to the main gear types. The most harmful fishing gears resulted to be trawl nets, showing the highest probabilities of turtle bycatch with a hotspot in the Adriatic Sea, followed by longlines in the Ionian Sea and in the Sicily Channel. Estimates obtained by the present results showed that more than 52,000 capture events and 10,000 deaths occurred in Italian waters in 2014, highlighting a more alarming scenario than earlier studies. The work shows that in case of poor data from other sources, direct questioning of fishermen and stakeholders could represent a useful and cost-effective approach capable of providing sufficient data to estimate annual bycatch rates and identify high-risk gear/location/season combinations.

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“…Mediterranean fisheries are multispecies, multinational and are conducted with fishing fleets of medium-large vessels, which are highly diversified, competitive and often target shared stocks (Lucchetti et al 2014). The high fishing effort in this area, in conjunction with other anthropogenic activities, represents a significant threat to marine ecosystems, habitats and species conservation (Worm et al 2006;Halpern et al 2008;Tittensor et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexible Turtle Excluder Device (TED): an effective tool for Mediterranean coastal multispecies bottom trawl fisheries

Lucchetti

Punzo

Virgili

2016

Aquat. Living Resour.

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-The effect of a flexible Turtle Excluder Device (TED) on the catching efficiency and performance of a commercial bottom trawl was tested in a gear comparison study for a Mediterranean coastal multispecies bottom trawl fishery. The device affected neither bottom trawl technical performances (horizontal and vertical net opening and door spread) nor did it increase the required towing force, hence fuel consumption remained constant. Comparison of commercial catches for the major species demonstrated that using the TED did not affect catching efficiency, while it reduced the amount of debris. The device did not influence the size of commercial species, leaving the selective performance of the trawl unmodified. Underwater video camera recordings documented that fish caught in the net swam through the grid and easily reached the cod-end, missing the TED escape opening. Easy storage and improved catch retention compared with previous devices tested in this area make the present flexible TED a practical and valuable solution to reduce turtle bycatch in coastal Mediterranean demersal multispecies fisheries.

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Transferable Fishing Concessions (TFC): A pilot study on the applicability in the Mediterranean Sea

Cited by 21 publications

References 14 publications

Reducing Sea Turtle Bycatch in the Mediterranean Mixed Demersal Fisheries

Reducing Sea Turtle Bycatch in the Mediterranean Mixed Demersal Fisheries

An interview-based approach to assess sea turtle bycatch in Italian waters

Flexible Turtle Excluder Device (TED): an effective tool for Mediterranean coastal multispecies bottom trawl fisheries

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