Fishing methods to reduce sea turtle mortality associated with pelagic longlines

By J. Watson, S. Epperly, Arvind Shah, D. Foster. 2005

380 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3fe7d0dff60c9b35a6596448857f962063e25d25

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. Rebecca Lewison
2. Bj Godley
3. P. Casale
4. Andrew J. Read
5. LB Crowder
6. T. Werner
7. E. Lawrence
8. R. Brill

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. Andrew J. Read
2. P. Casale
3. Bj Godley
4. Rebecca Lewison
5. Wade Blanchard
6. J. Baum
7. J. Neilson
8. E. Carruthers

Citations in the corpus

• Large-scale experiment shows that nylon leaders reduce shark bycatch and benefit pelagic longline fishers (2008, background): “Howver, Watson et al. (2005) found that blue shark catch rates ere 8–9% higher on circle hooks compared to J hooks.”
• Reducing sea turtle by-catch in pelagic longline fisheries (2006, methodology): “…14 Gear depth and day vs. night setting 14 Soak time 15 Sea temperature 15 Blue-dyed bait 15 Practices to handle and release captured turtles 15 Additional research directions 16 Methods to avoid turtle by-catch hotspots 16 Conclusions and recommended next steps 17 Acknowledgements 18 References 18”
• Sea turtle by‐catch in the Mediterranean (2011, background): “In the north-west Atlantic pelagic longline fishery, using large mackerels (200–500 g) instead of squids (150–300 g) as bait reduced the catch rate of loggerhead turtles (Watson et al. 2005).”
• Global catches, exploitation rates, and rebuilding options for sharks (2013, neutral): “3 427,312 [57] Swordfish Atlantic Southeast 2000–2005 23.”
• An overview of loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) bycatch and technical mitigation measures in the Mediterranean Sea (2010, background): “There is growing evidence that circle hooks tend to be located mostly externally in the jaw or mouth as opposed to deeper hooking (Watson et al. 2005; Gilman et al. 2006, 2007; Read 2007).”
• Circle hook effectiveness for the mitigation of sea turtle bycatch and capture of target species in a Brazilian pelagic longline fishery (2010, background): “On the other hand, we confirm previous studies in the area and elsewhere that immature loggerheads are the main species and life stage captured, followed by leatherbacks (but see Watson et al., 2005), while green turtles are rarely caught.”
• Do circle hooks reduce the mortality of sea turtles in pelagic longlines? A review of recent experiments (2007, methodology): “…(e.g. hook placement, setting time, use of light sticks, bait size and hook manufacturer) were standardized among participating vessels; other aspects of the gear (e.g. length of mainline and leader lines) were allowed to vary among vessels, but were consistent within a trip (Watson et al., 2005).”
• Shark interactions in pelagic longline fisheries (2008, background): “demonstrated in some fisheries to address seabird and sea turtle bycatch [8, 9, 12, 24, 25], collaborative approaches, which tap fishers’ large repository of knowledge, may likewise successfully reduce unwanted shark interactions.”
• Impacts of fisheries bycatch on marine turtle populations worldwide: toward conservation and research priorities (2013, background): “…as well as greater understanding of turtle responses to static and dynamic habitat features (e.g., Kobayashi et al. 2008, Shillinger et al. 2011) are necessary to improve understanding of marine turtle bycatch patterns (Watson et al. 2005, FAO Fisheries Department 2009, Gilman et al. 2009).”
• Effects of eliminating shallow hooks from tuna longline sets on target and non-target species in the Hawaii-based pelagic tuna fishery (2009, background): “Due to public scrutiny and their wide notoriety, longline interactions with sea turtles, birds and sharks often receive intense focus (Molony, 2005; Gilman et al., 2005, 2006; Watson et al., 2005).”
• Reducing green turtle bycatch in small-scale fisheries using illuminated gillnets: the cost of saving a sea turtle (2016, background): “…sea turtles, most efforts have focused on the use of circle hooks in longline fisheries (Gilman et al. 2006, Serafy et al. 2012) and the use of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in shrimp trawl fisheries (Crowder et al. 1994, 1995, Watson et al. 2005, Lewison & Crowder 2007, Read 2007, Jenkins 2011).”
• Inferring shark population trends from generalized linear mixed models of pelagic longline catch and effort data (2010, background): “As such, they can provide important information about the spatial distributions and hotspots of these species, which is complementary to the large body of data currently being collected from tagging programs for wide-ranging species (e.g. Weng et al., 2008).”
• A review of marine mammal, sea turtle and seabird bycatch in USA fisheries and the role of policy in shaping management (2009, background): “Circle hooks have been shown to be effective at reducing sea turtle bycatch [86–88].”
• Impacts of fisheries bycatch on loggerhead turtles worldwide inferred from reproductive value analyses (2008, background): “In addition, differences in gear characteristics (e.g. longline hook size and shape, gillnet mesh size, set depth) can result in differences in species or sizes (i.e. age classes) of individuals taken as bycatch (Epperly et al. 2002; Watson et al. 2005).”