WCC 2020 Res 023 - Activity Report

The International Whaling Commission (IWC), through its Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI), has engaged in close collaboration with the FAO to support the FAO's publication of Technical Guidelines to prevent and reduce marine mammal bycatch in capture fisheries (https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb2887en/). The IWC has also collaborated with the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) and WWF to organise and co-host marine mammal bycatch (September 2021) and multi-taxa bycatch (August 2022) workshops, focusing on measures to improve monitoring, reporting, and mitigation of ETP bycatch in Indian Ocean tuna fisheries. These meetings are expected to lead to resolutions and concrete actions by IOTC contracting parties to improve monitoring of, and reduction of ETP bycatch. IUCN SSC Cetacean specialist Group members contributed to both workshops. The IWC is collaborating with the IOTC and other RFMOs to promote more research into bycatch mitigation methods, and to raise funds (e.g. through the GEF Common Oceans project) to support bycatch monitoring and mitigation.

Multiple NGOs and IGOs are engaged in outreach and education with respect to the problem of ETP bycatch in fisheries around the world. International NGOs include WWF (e.g. https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/bycatch), WCS, Birdlife International, and Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC). Many of these NGOs collaborate with industry and government stakeholders through the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGG) (https://www.ghostgear.org/members) which aims to reduce bycatch by reducing abandoned, discarded (ADLF), or lost fishing gear in the water. The wide range of different categories of stakeholders involved in the GGG should serve as an example of how similar collaborations could improve global efforts to reduce bycatch in active fishing gears.

The International Whaling Commission is working with the FAO to produce illustrated fact sheets to accompany the FAO technical guidelines on preventing and reducing marine mammal bycatch. These will be used with Industry stakeholders, especially Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) to raise awareness of the different tools available to more accurately monitor, assess, and prevent bycatch.

Research and field trials on bycatch mitigation for ETP Species are being conducted in multiple fisheries around the globe with collaboration and support from many organisations. Governments are also funding trials on the use of electronic monitoring for bycatch and other ways to improve bycatch observer coverage in fishing fleets. One example is a project in West Africa, funded by the MAVA foundation and focusing on sea turtle and seabird bycatch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qmU_9Ymxm4. Scientists in Korea are also working to develop porpoise excluder devices for stow nets that are responsible for unsustainable levels of narrow-ridged finless porpoise bycatch (see also Resolution 094). Scientists from multiple organisations are collaborating to determine whether high resolution satellite imagery can be used to better monitor artisanal fisheries in the Indian Ocean, and to conduct more robust trials on the impact of lowering gillnets to reduce cetacean bycatch in the Indian Ocean tuna gillnet fishery. These trials offer some solutions, but the real challenge lies in scaling solutions up to entire fisheries in order to achieve the significant reductions that are needed to halt ETP species' declines around the world.