Fisheries targeting relatively productive species can harm incidentally caught bycatch species with low fecundity and other life history traits that make them vulnerable to anthropogenic mortality. There has been increasing concern over the sustainability of bycatch mortality of marine megafauna given their vulnerability to exploitation, ecosystem-level cascading effects from declines in abundance, and reduced population fitness from fisheries-induced evolution. This theme session provides an opportunity to identify key criteria for developing evidence-informed, integrated fisheries bycatch policy that promises to achieve ecological and socioeconomic objectives of bycatch management strategies.
Organizers:
Eric Gilman, Pelagic Fisheries Research Center, [email protected]
Milani Chaloupka, Ecological Modelling Services Pty Ltd and Marine Spatial Ecology Lab, University of Queensland
Petri Suuronen, International Seafood Consulting Group (ISCG), Finland, [email protected]