WCC 2020 Res 094 - Progress Report

Convene stakeholders /networking: In September, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of South Korea hosted a workshop in Hong Kong to implement a resolution on the conservation of finless porpoises. The workshop, led by PlanOcean, was held at City University of Hong Kong in collaboration with the IUCN Asia Regional Office, Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science, and City University of Hong Kong. The event brought together over 30 experts from seven countries to share current insights and explore collaborative strategies for conservation. A "Finless Porpoise Conservation Network" was established, and areas for future collaboration were discussed.

Education/Communication/Raising awareness: PlanOcean, with the support from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries conducted awareness surveys on finless porpoises among local fishermen, residents, municipal governments, and the coast guard across various regions in South Korea. It was identified that awareness of the underlying causes of NRFP population decline and the importance of conservation efforts remains low among local fishermen, residents, municipal governments, and the Coast Guard in various regions of South Korea. This served as a baseline to adopt a more practical approach to raise awareness and encourage active participation in conservation efforts. To address this, PlanOcean provided fishermen with information on the ecological importance of finless porpoises and their endangered status, encouraging them to actively participate in conservation efforts.

Field activities: Statistics from the Cetacean Research Institute indicate a significant yearly decline in reported bycatch and strandings of marine mammals with 1,071 cases in 2020, 628 in 2021, and 381 in 2022. However, further investigation is needed to determine whether this trend reflects an actual decrease in bycatch and strandings, a decline in finless porpoise populations, or reduced reporting rates. To mitigate bycatch, the National Institute of Fisheries Science has been researching escape devices for stow nets, which caused the highest bycatch rates of finless porpoises since 2017. The research concluded in 2021, leading to the establishment of the "Notice on Marine Mammal Bycatch Reduction Devices." Between 2021 and June 2024, a trial involving 40 fishing vessels compared bycatch rates with and without the escape devices. Across 21,132 fishing operations, 55 finless porpoises were caught using nets without the device, while no bycatch occurred when the device was employed (as reported in the 2024 IWC SC Summary). As of 2023, 15% of stow nets (112 nets) have been equipped with escape devices, with efforts ongoing to increase adoption. In late October, the Qingdao Marine Conservation Society (QMCS), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and O2 co-hosted a workshop titled "Sustainable Transition of Fishing Gears in the Bohai Sea and North Yellow Sea" in Qingdao, China. Scientists and marine conservation NGOs from South Korea and China convened to discuss transitioning to sustainable fishing gear in the Yellow Sea, where population density and fishing intensity are high. PlanOcean introduced South Korea's escape net technology, which garnered significant interest from local Chinese conservationists addressing similar bycatch issues. This dialogue laid the foundation for future collaborations.