WCC 2020 Res 023 - Activity Report

The IUCN SSC Marine Conservation Committee has been leading an initiative to canvas all marine Specialist Groups on the most urgent and pervasive challenges posed by non-selective fisheries for various marine taxa. This effort started with an online meeting of marine Specialist Group leaders in 2020, and was picked up again during the IUCN SSC Leader's meeting in Abu Dhabi in October 2024. In early 2025, a survey was sent to all marine SG Chairs which will be used to compile and present some of the most concerning impacts of non-selective fisheries/bycatch across different taxa, and these will be presented at 2025 UN Ocean's Conference in June. The intention is to also use the results of this collaborative exercise in a peer-reviewed journal article as well as more popular media channels to generate awareness and policy action to address the threat of bycatch to marine taxa that are not the intended targets of managed fisheries.

The Convention on Migratory Species has an Appointed Scientific Counsellor on Bycatch, and works closely with the FAO to address bycatch issues at a government/policy level with numerous recommendations and resources to promote safe handling and release of bycaught species. Bycatch mitigation remains high on the workplan for the CMS's Aquatic Working Group.

The US Marine Mammal Protection Act Import Ruling has motivated many governments and fisheries around the world that export fish products to the US to take measures to better assess marine mammal populations in their waters, as well as the potential bycatch in the relevant exporting fisheries. Although the enforcement of the regulation has been postponed several times, the import ruling has raised awareness of, and motivation to address bycatch, and has also fostered the development of tools and resources to help governments and fisheries comply with the ruling (see for example https://www.lenfestocean.org/en/home/research-projects/bycatch).

Members of the IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group, including the Co-Chairs, participate in the International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee, which has a subcommittee focusing on non-deliberate human induced mortality. This subcommittee invites scientists to present the most up-to-date information on methods to assess and monitor cetacean bycatch, as well as to assess its potential population-level impacts, and, most importantly, measures to reduce or eliminate cetacean bycatch. Promising new mitigation methods have been shared in recent years, such as the design and testing of finless porpoise excluder devices on stow nets with high levels of cetacean bycatch in Korea, and the use of empty plastic bottles to successfully increase the detectability of gillnets and reduce dolphin bycatch in Brazil The International Whaling Commission also hosts a Bycatch Mitigation Initiative, with a full-time Coordinator, and a volunteer Expert Panel, who work with stakeholders around the world to support then in bycatch mitigation efforts. The IWC has collaborated with the FAO on the production of best practice guidelines and factsheets for reduction of marine mammal bycatch, and has hosted training workshops around the world on Bycatch Risk Assessment (ByRA), and supported field-based trials and interventions in South America. See https://iwc.int/management-and-conservation/bycatch for more information.