Report of the 2nd Workshop on Bycatch Reduction in the ETP Purse-Seine Fishery

The Southwest Regional Office (SWR) along with the Protected Resources Division of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) and Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) convened a workshop with a panel of experts to conduct a technical review of four formal research proposals prepared based on recommendations from an earlier bycatch reduction workshop. The goal of each proposal was to either avoid the capture of non-target species or to facilitate their release from the net or deck in the ETP purse-seine fishery. The panelists were asked to flesh out the proposals and provide input on how to proceed with each proposal should funding become available to pursue the proposed research.

The proposals were as follows:
1) Modifications to the design of FADs to reduce turtle entanglement on-board
2) Reducing incidental capture of sharks through use of bait and/or deterrents
3) Ecological Approaches to Bycatch Reduction using Fisheries Data
4) Field Trials for a Suite of Potential Bycatch Reduction Devices and Techniques (FAD Modifications and Manipulation, Behavioral and Physiological Indicators of Stress, and Removing Bycatch from the Seine and Deck)

As a result of this workshop, five areas of research that should be pursued were identified as:
1) Avoidance of sea turtle entanglement by modifying existing FAD designs.
2) Attraction of sharks away from FADs prior to the set to reduce bycatch.
3) Development of mechanisms (vacuum pumps, sorting grids, backdown procedure, and towing) to release bycatch species from inside the net.
4) Time-area closures: use of historical bycatch data and simulations.
5) Generally applicable to reducing incidental catch of non-target species.

Detailed accounts of proposals are found in the appendices.