Dear MARMAM Community,
ON BEHALF OF MY CO-AUTHORS, I AM GLAD TO ANNOUNCE OUR RECENT
PUBLICATION IN /AQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS/
Buscaino, G., Ceraulo, M., Alonge, G., Pace, D. S., Grammauta, R.,
Maccarrone, V., Bonanno, A., Mazzola, S. & Papale, E. (2021).
Artisanal fishing, dolphins, and interactive pinger: A study from a
passive acoustic perspective. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and
Freshwater Ecosystems, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3588
ABSTRACT:
1. Dolphins interact with many types of fishing gear, causing damage
to fishing activities and in some cases facing harm and becoming
entangled as bycatch.
2. In this study, the behaviour of bottlenose dolphins during their
interaction with set nets, equipped with and without interactive
pingers, was investigated. Acoustic monitoring of the nets was
conducted for a total of 56 hauls and 814.9 hr of recordings, from the
16 October to 13 November 2015, along the coast of Lampedusa island
(Sicilian Channel, Italy, Mediterranean Sea).
3. The level of interaction between dolphins and the nets was
evaluated considering the number of dolphin clicks grouped over time
(single acoustic incursion on each net), the duration of every
acoustic incursion, and the number of dolphin clicks per incursion.
Moreover, the catch rate was measured as the number of fish per hour
for each net.
4. Based on the recording time of dolphin clicks, the spatio-temporal
development of the interaction with the nets located in different bays
of the island was assessed.
5. The duration of the interaction between dolphins and nets
significantly increased over the study period, with a concomitant
reduction in catch rate. The interactive pinger showed efficacy in
protecting the nets from dolphin depredation during the first period
of 36 hauls and 11 fishing days (higher catch rates and lower
incursion durations), whereas no differences were found in any
interaction parameters between pinger and control nets in the second
period (20 hauls and six fishing days).
6. Interactive pingers may be an effective, short-term (2–3 weeks)
tool in deterring depredation by bottlenose dolphins in small-scale
artisanal fisheries. Other mitigation approaches, such as gear
modification, lessons learned through outreach, and passive acoustic
monitoring of the nets, could improve the management of the
interactions between fisheries and bottlenose dolphins.
The full article is available
at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aqc.3588
To request a PDF copy please contact me at [email protected]_
Best,
Elena
---------------------------------------------
Elena Papale, PhD
Institute for the Study of Anthropogenic Impacts
and Sustainability in the Marine Environment (IAS),
National Research Council,
Via del Mare 3,
91021 Torretta Granitola (TP)
Italy
and
Department of Life Science and Systems Biology
University of Torino,
Via Accademia Albertina 13,
10123 Torino
Italy
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
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