Pinger affects fish catch efficiency and damage to

Authors: Giuseppa Buscaino Gaspare Buffa Gianluca Sarà Antonio Bellante Antonio Josè Tonello Fernando Augusto Sliva Hardt Marta Jussara Cremer Angelo Bonanno Angela Cuttitta Salvatore Mazzola

Publish Date: 2009/03/17

Volume: 75, Issue: 3, Pages: 537-544

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Abstract

There is some evidence that the presence of Tursiops truncatus in fishing areas represents a real economic threat to fishermen due the dolphin feeding on the entangled fish damaging the nets and reducing the fish catch We have carried out experiments to assess the efficiency of a pinger in decreasing the interaction between the dolphins and fishing nets in a fishing area off the coast of southern Italy where Tursiops truncatus is frequently observed to interact with bottom gill nets Two identical monofilament bottom gill nets 900 m long one equipped with pingers and the other without were used to measure the effect of these pingers on the abundance of the catch and net damage For each haul 58 in total data on dolphin sightings near the nets damage judged to have been done by dolphins weight and species composition of the catch were collected All damage to the nets were recorded at the end of each haul Dolphins in the fishing area were sighted 11 times out of 29 fishing activities 38 The net equipped with pingers contained 28 more fish biomass than the net without pingers t test P  004 and was less damaged −31 t test P  001 To assess whether the efficacy of these pingers remain constant over long period longterm experiments should be carried out

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