Use high-visibility mesh on gillnets to reduce seabird bycatch
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Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
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Number of studies: 1
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Supporting evidence from individual studies
A repeated, randomised and controlled trial in a drift gillnet fishery in North Puget Sound, Washington, USA, in July- August 1996 (Melvin et al. 1999), found that nets fitted with highly visible mesh in the top 25% caught significantly fewer common guillemots (common murres) Uria aalge and rhinoceros auklets Cerorhinca monocerata than control nets (guillemots: 0.37 vs. 0.6 entanglements/net; auklets: approximately 0.05 vs. 0.2 entanglements/net). Nets fitted with highly visible mesh in the top 10% caught significantly fewer guillemots than controls (0.32 vs. 0.6 entanglements/net), but there was no significant change in the number of auklets caught. Nets with 25% high visibility mesh also caught significantly fewer sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka, the target species, compared to controls (10 vs. 36 entanglements/net). A total of eight boats and 482 net sets were studied.
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This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:
Bird ConservationBird Conservation - Published 2013
Bird Synopsis