How can we efficiently mitigate the impacts of dFADs?

While drifting FADs contributed to the development of tropical tuna fisheries during the 1990s, their too extensive use during the following decades, especially the beginning of the 2010s, has raised concerns for tunas, non-targeted species and ecosystems. Though various dFAD management measures have been implemented in the Indian Ocean during the 2010s, the impacts of dFADs remain a serious concern for many stakeholders of the fishery. Here, we review the existing knowledge and management of dFADs impacts, focussing on dFAD impacts that are currently at the heart of the debates in the frame of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC). We propose a methodology for selecting among the dFAD management measures that have recently been discussed in IOTC based on several criteria : their ability to cover several impacts of dFADs, their ability to cover the full lifespan of dFADs, the enforceability of the measure and the absence of potential unwanted consequences. Finally, based on the experience of the French and associated fleet operating in the Indian and Atlantic Ocean, we question the efficiency of current dFAD management in IOTC and provide guidelines and recommendations to ensure that dFAD management measures are applicable and fully effective in the Indian Ocean.