The individual welfare concerns for small cetaceans from two bycatch mitigation techniques

Abstract

The prevalence of small cetacean (including dolphins, porpoises and small odontocete whales) bycatch in fisheries worldwide remains an ongoing conservation and welfare challenge. Various mitigation methods have been implemented in attempts to reduce bycatch. Two such methods involve gear modification: placement of Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs) within trawl nets, usually involving a physical barrier and an escape hatch; and, deployment of Acoustic Deterrent Devices (ADDs, ‘pingers’), typically placed on static nets and some trawl nets, to alert cetaceans to their presence and deter them from interacting with the gear. Despite their efficacy in reducing bycatch under certain circumstances, negative welfare impacts remain for individuals interacting with both BRDs and ADDs. Post-mortem analyses of small cetaceans caught in trawl gear, for example, illustrate the potential long-term effects of capture myopathies and cardiac damage sustained during the acute stress of entanglement, prior to and during escape through the BRD. Further, animals may become entangled in the bars, ropes or mesh of the BRD or escape hatch itself, and little is known of their post-release survival. ADD efficacy is typically fishery- and cetacean species-specific and, even where deemed a success at reducing bycatch, displacing animals from their optimal foraging habitat could negatively impact individual survival. Some species display equivocal responses to ADDs, while others may habituate to or be attracted to the sounds produced as they learn to associate it with food rewards, as they do in trawl fisheries, thereby reducing ADD efficacy and increasing the likelihood of entanglement. Here, we provide a synthesis of existing studies of these mitigation methods and discuss the associated welfare issues, where poor welfare negatively impacts an individual’s physical or mental state. We conclude that cetacean welfare considerations should become an integral part of decision-making in relation to bycatch globally.