Need to address gaps in global fisheries observation

Abstract

Article impact statement: Urgent gaps in global fisheries monitoring can be addressed with more strategic use of government funds and regional assistance programs.

Setting the net lower: A potential low‐cost mitigation method to reduce cetacean bycatch in drift gillnet fisheries

“…Tuna fisheries, including industrial, semi‐industrial and artisanal, are of major economic and social importance throughout the Indian Ocean. The number of gillnet fishing boats has been increasing for several years, probably owing to the low operating cost of gillnets compared with other gear types (Roberson, Kiszka & Watson, 2018). Recently, preliminary bycatch estimates based on relatively small bycatch monitoring programmes in portions of the Indian Ocean suggest that as many as 100,000 cetaceans per year were taken between 2004 and 2006 (Anderson et al, 2020).…”

Development and implementation of a fully randomized sampling design for a fishery monitoring program

“…Data collected by fishery monitoring programs have many uses. These data include collections in support of stock assessments (NRC, 1998), ecosystem-based fisheries management (Gilman et al, 2017), avoidance of bycatch hot spots by industry and research partners (Gilman et al, 2006;O'Keefe et al, 2014), and detailed catch accounting (Karp et al, 2019). Because the fisheries data collected by these monitoring programs are used in analyses that meet a wide variety of management and scientific needs, it is often difficult to specify a single objective for these programs.…”

“…The blended allocation weighting is the average of the 3 separate optimal allocation weightings derived from discarded total catch of groundfish and catch of the prohibited species Pacific halibut and Chinook salmon. Each weighting takes into account average trip cost and variance for the stratum during the year (Sullivan and Faunce, 2018).…”

Threats of illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing to biodiversity and food security in the Republic of the Congo

“…VMS is a satellite-based monitoring system whereby an onboard transmitter relays information on a vessels identity, location (latitude and longitude), course, and speed to national fisheries authorities, who are the only authorised parties to have access to the information. VMS offers an opportunity to provide near real-time data, that can be used to inform on the location of fishing activity and better understand management needs (Kroodsma et al, 2018;Roberson, Kiszka, & Watson, 2019). VMS however, is not a legal requirement in all countries, and where it is implemented, few countries have systematic data management.…”

“…2018; Roberson et al. 2019). Vessel monitoring systems, however, are not a legal requirement in all countries, and where it is implemented, few countries have systematic data management.…”