Recently, Prof. Wan Rong's group at Shanghai Ocean University, in collaboration with researchers from Hawaii Pacific University, North Carolina State University, and the Pelagic Fisheries Sci-Tech Innovation Team, has made new progress in revealing the effectiveness of bycatch mitigation methods for sea turtles, which was published in the top fisheries journal, the Fish and Fisheries under the title of A meta-analysis of bycatch mitigation methods for sea turtles vulnerable to swordfish and tunalongline fisheries (doi: 1011/faf.12865), with Yan Hao, a master student of Shanghai Ocean University (Class 2023) as the first author of the paper, and Prof. Wan Rong and Associate Prof. Zhou Cheng as the co-corresponding authors.
As environmentally sensitive species (ESS), sea turtles have long faced multiple threats such as habitat destruction, climate change, marine pollution and fishing bycatch. Among them, the Caretta caretta, Dermochelys coriacea, Lepidochelys olivacea and Chelonia mydas have significant interaction with the long-line fisheries, which makes bycatch one of the major challenges for sustainable fisheries worldwide. Although a variety of bycatch reduction methods have been developed globally, the effectiveness of these techniques across species and regions, and the synergistic effects of combining multiple measures, are not yet clear.
This paper provides the first meta-analytical systematic assessment of the effectiveness of hooks, baits, and other bycatch mitigation devices and their compatibility with fisheries from a global perspective, revealing a subtle hierarchy of species-specific and regional differentiation among mitigation measures, and providing prospective insights into the protection of endangered sea turtle populations and the advancement of fine-tuned fisheries management practices.The paper also addresses bycatch mitigation alternatives that are currently under discussion by regional fisheries management organizations, and confirms that the masking effect of combining different types of hooks and baits produces a limited enhancement in mitigation effectiveness compared to a single approach, a finding that provides important scientific evidence for the development of effective conservation and management measures for Species of Special Interest (SSI).
