Mitigating dolphin depredation
Strengthening cetacean conservation and sustainable fisheries
The Mitigating Dolphin Depredation project aims to strengthen cetacean conservation and sustainable fisheries by reducing depredation and expanding the regional network of expertise on depredation.
Objectives:
- Assess and mitigate, in a harmonized way, depredation caused by cetaceans in purse seine fisheries in Morocco and Tunisia and in small-scale fisheries in Andalucía (Spain), in Sicily (Italy) and Malta.
- Provide robust data on depredations via onboard observations
- Demonstrate the viability of technical mitigation measures that can reduce the impact of depredations on cetaceans
- Engage participating countries in good practices to address the depredations issue.
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Partners
Depredation caused by cetaceans (in particular bottlenose dolphins) in fisheries - when dolphins partially or completely remove catches from fishing gear - is a growing matter of concern for several fisheries in the Mediterranean. Socio-economic impacts caused by the damages to the fishing gears and the loss of catches create situations of conflicts between fishers and dolphins, weakening the conservation and sustainability efforts promoted by the Mediterranean countries. Based on this observation, the project was born to find solutions.