Marine Turtle By-catch
Reduction in Long-line
Fisheries in the Eastern
Pacific Ocean
Moises Mug
(1)
, Carlos Drews
(2)
(1) Fisheries Program Leader for LAC
(2) Marine Program & Species Coordinator for LAC
WWF - Marine & Species Program for Latin America and The Caribbean
Global fish crisis
48% of fish stocks in
South American Pacific
waters are overexploited
(FAO)
Mahi-mahi
Yellow-fin tuna
WWF Carlos Drews
When marine turtles meet fisheries …
Marine Turtles
Fisheries
LAC Fisheries
Program Leader
Moisés Mug
Bycatch
250.000 loggerheads and 50.000
leatherbacks caught yearly in
longlines globally.
Sandra Andraka
Senior Bycatch Officer
Critically endangered leatherbacks
- a bycatch mitigation response

Working principles (after
Martin Hall)


No one wants to
catch turtles
No one wants to put
fishermen out of
business
Data courtesy of Rotney Piedra
MINAE
98% decline in 20 years!
Up to 70 miles long - 8,000 hooks
Longline fisheries
J- hooks
Circle hooks
Large circle hooks reduce marine turtle catch rates by
over 60% (NOAA/NMFS in the Atlantic).
Pacific Longlines:
Tuna, Mahi Mahi, Swordfish…. and turtles! .
Outcomes:
Turtles and fisherman together
leading transformation!
New gear
• Transform 20% of1.Eastern
Pacific fleet to better fishing gear
2. Fishermanturtle
take the lead
• Save the Pacific leatherback
3. Governments
• Set a ground-breaking
precedentand
in amarkets
powerful tuna fishery
management body (IATTC)
• Stimulate fisherman lead reform across 11 Pacific countries
© Michael Patrick O´Neill
The largest, field based,
fisheries conservation project in
the history of marine
conservation
•
Region-wide collaborative work (8 countries)
•
A team led by WWF and IATTC: Industry, artisanal
sector, exporters, fisheries authorities, NGOs from
•
Mexico
•
Guatemala
•
El Salvador
•
Costa Rica
•
Panama
•
Colombia
•
Ecuador
•
Peru
•
Partners: WWF, IATTC, NOAA, USAID, US State
Department, WCPFC, Japan, Ocean Conservancy,
Mustad, Packard, Royal Caribbean, OSPESCA, …
SOLUTION: Large Circle hooks and BestFishing Practices
Source: IATTC

TECHNOLOGY: substitute J hooks with
large C hooks across Pacific fisheries

BEST FISHING PRACTICES - Marine
stewardship: rescue & release
techniques for turtles

VOLUNTARY ADOPTION: hook exchange

Time/area management: next steps
OUR CHALLENGE in the
Eastern Pacific Ocean

Altar 11 (Ecuador)
1,229 industrial fishing vessels in
the EPO (10% EPO coastal
countries) (larger than 24 m long, mean size is
45.5 m). Fishing trip duration 4-6 months.
Chen Chieh 21 (Taiwan)

More than 3,800 fishing vessels,
including artisanal smaller than 24
m. Plus thousands of outboard motor boats that
211 Donwon (Korea)
fish with long-lines (16,000 only in Ecuador).
Fishing trip duration 5 to 30 days.
Fong Kuo 6 (Vanuatu)

IATTC covers industrial long-line
fisheries. Artisanal long-line fleet in
LAC is an opportunity.
Our goal: 2,000 vessels in
3 years … the tipping point.
Don Jorge (Costa Rica)
Artisanal fleet - Manta,
Ecuador
Almost 4 years of work
(2004-2007)

> 80,000 J hooks replaced

> 1,000 experimental fishing trips
in all countries.
• No fisherman has ever returned to
using J-hooks

> 3,800 fishermen and 138 onboard observers trained
• Central American fishers forming
sustainable fisheries foundation

> 300 captains and their fishing
vessels in the program
• Programme acknowledged as
excellent model

> 86 vessels completely
transformed.
• Wal-Mart Central America prepared to
preferentially source fish caught on
circle hooks

Working relationships with NOAA
and Mustad (200,000 hooks
donated).
Hook performance on turtle bycatch
Turtles caught per 1000 hooks
3.5
Changes in hooking location
Mahi-mahi fishery
3
% (“bad hookings”)
2.5
J hooks
2
1.5
- 60%
1
J Hooks
C Hooks
53%
C14
- 27%
15%
C15
14%
15%
0.5
Hall et al. Crete 2006
0
Tuna fishery
Mahi-mahi fishery
Hook performance on target species
Fish caught per 1000 hooks
60
50
J Hooks
C Hooks
40
- 20%
30
+ 22%
20
10
0
Tuna fishery
Mahi-mahi fishery
First voluntary, multi-national observers
program with artisanal fishermen in the world
The greatest assett
TRUST
Bycatch mitigation
Selective gear
Best practices
Competitive
markets
Data collection, monitoring & evaluation
On-board observer program
Capacity
Access rights
Sustainable fisheries
Management