Good species identification skills among crew and observers are important for reasons of science (data quality) and compliance (the enforcement of conservation measures). They also enable the use of appropriate safe handling and release procedures.
Field guides to species identification are included in this category, as is more general literature about species identification. The latter includes, e.g., studies examining the need for training of observers and crew, or evaluation of their ability to correctly identify species. Studies discussing biological sampling and genetic techniques (e.g. DNA barcoding) to identify bycatch composition are also found here.