Fisheries targeting highly productive species can have profound impacts on co-occurring species also susceptible to capture that have long generation lengths, low fecundity and other life history traits that make them vulnerable to anthropogenic mortality. There has been increasing concern over the sustainability of bycatch mortality of marine megafauna given their vulnerability to exploitation, ecosystem-level cascading effects from declines in abundance and reduced population fitness from fisheries-induced evolution. There has also been increasing attention to risks from bycatch to food, nutrition and livelihood security. The session’s presentations and discussion will cover priority topics in fisheries bycatch science and policy.
Organizer: Eric Gilman, Fisheries Research Group, The Safina Center, [email protected]
Supported by: The Safina Center