Bycatch Reduction in North Atlantic, Baltic and Mediterranean

Lead Institute OF Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries

Coordinated Development and Implementation of Best Practice in Bycatch Reduction in the North Atlantic, Baltic and Mediterranean Regions

The project aims to minimize the bycatch of Endangered, Threatened, and Protected (ETP) species in these regions. To achieve this, it promotes cross-border and cross-sectoral collaboration among stakeholders—including fishers, authorities, and scientists—from 13 European countries. Together, they work to establish mitigation, monitoring, and assessment programs in selected fisheries identified as having a bycatch risk.

Background and Objective

Bycatch in commercial fisheries poses a significant threat to endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) species such as seabirds, marine mammals, turtles, sharks, and rays. Many of these species take a long time to reach maturity and have low reproductive rates, making it difficult for their populations to recover from bycatch losses. Additionally, many ETP species cover large marine areas, increasing the likelihood of encountering various fishing fleets. The loss of these species has wide-reaching effects on marine ecosystems, as they play key roles in nutrient cycling and species regulation. The aim of the project is to minimize, and where possible eliminate, bycatch of ETP species to maintain the health of marine ecosystems and ensure the sustainability of fisheries.

To achieve these goals, the project pursues the following specific objectives:

Foster cross-border cooperation among policymakers, fishers, scientists, and other relevant stakeholders to successfully implement recommended mitigation methods and reduce bycatch of ETP species.
Establish monitoring programs to enhance the reliability of bycatch estimates.
Develop methods to assess the impacts of bycatch on species conservation in both data-rich and data-poor contexts.
Develop, test, evaluate, and optimize bycatch mitigation methods.
Assess the socio-economic implications of different mitigation methods and identify those that are both effective in minimizing bycatch and feasible for fishers to implement.
Recommend and promote the uptake of bycatch mitigation methods suitable for different contexts across Europe.
Secure long-term funding for the continuation and sustainability of these mitigation methods.

Target Group

fisheries, nature conservation, research

Approach

The work focuses on various fisheries through eight case studies. This ensures that a set of measures is developed that is both feasible for fishers and effective in minimizing – and, where possible, eliminating – bycatch.

These case studies cover a wide range of small-scale and large-scale fishing operations using different types of gear, including gillnets, longlines, pelagic trawls, and bottom trawls. Through collaborative research with these fisheries, CIBBRiNA will generate new knowledge applicable across Europe.

Data and Methods

The Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries plays a key role in bycatch estimation in gillnet fisheries and in the development of appropriate bycatch reduction measures, such as the PearlNet. The necessary data are collected in collaboration with the commercial fishing industry and subsequently analyzed. Due to the international nature of the project, both data collection and analysis are carried out in close consultation and cooperation with the other involved research institutions.