Mitigating Dolphin Depredation

Strengthening cetacean conservation and sustainable fisheries.

The Mitigating Dolphin Depredation project aims to strengthen cetacean conservation and sustainable fisheries by reducing depredation and expanding the regional network of expertise on depredation.

Objectives:

Assess and mitigate, in a harmonized way, depredation caused by cetaceans in purse seine fisheries in Morocco and Tunisia and in small-scale fisheries in Andalucía (Spain), in Sicily (Italy) and Malta.
Provide robust data on depredations via onboard observations
Demonstrate the viability of technical mitigation measures that can reduce the impact of depredations on cetaceans
Engage participating countries in good practices to address the depredations issue.

Julie Belmont

Julie is a marine biologist and an international cooperation specialist. She is a Project Officer for the ACCOBAMs Survey Initiative for Cetaceans in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. She is also a coordinator for the Mitigating Dolphin Depredation project.

Partners

Depredation caused by cetaceans (in particular bottlenose dolphins) in fisheries – when dolphins partially or completely remove catches from fishing gear – is a growing matter of concern for several fisheries in the Mediterranean. Socio-economic impacts caused by the damages to the fishing gears and the loss of catches create situations of conflicts between fishers and dolphins, weakening the conservation and sustainability efforts promoted by the Mediterranean countries. Based on this observation, the project was born to find solutions.

Budget (total) : 713,625€