Stakeholders’ Perspectives for Taking Action to Prevent Abandoned, Lost, or Otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear in Gillnet Fisheries, Taiwan

Abstract

Abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) and ghost fishing are becoming increasingly severe, hurting marine ecology and inspiring worldwide concern. The Global Ghost Gears Initiative (GGGI) is committed to building a best practice framework for the management of fishing gear and believes that proper and systematic marking of fishing gear will help mitigate the impacts of ALDFG and ghost fishing. However, the mandatory marking of gear for fishery management, without considering the geographical characteristics of each region, could lead to confrontations between the government and the industry. This study used ranking, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and interviews to obtain the opinions of different groups regarding the choices and preferences of stakeholders in the assessed factors of taking action to prevent ALDFG and reduce the harm caused by ghost fishing. The results show that the factors “B2, Informing and counseling”, “P2, Fishing gear marking”, and “P1, Regulation” had consensus and were valued by each group. In contrast, “P3, Announcing the location”, “R1, Equipment for boat recovery”, and “R5, Environmental label” were not yet in line with the custom of gillnet fisheries in Taiwan. These results can accelerate the integration of opinions, consider appropriate compromise solutions, and coordinate ideas among different groups to implement reasonable and efficient fishing gear marking management measures.