Bycatch from interactions with fisherie
s remains the biggest global threat to marine
mammals. Galicia, north
-
west Spain, is one of the world’s main fishing regions and a high
level of cetacean
-
fisheries interactions has been reported from on
-
board observers, interviews
with fisheries stakeholde
rs and analysis of stranded and by
-
caught carcasses.
Delphinus
delphis
is the most abundant cetacean in the area and since 1990 necropsies of over 1800
stranded and by
-
caught
Delphinus
have been conducted. Life history data (age, maturity, and
pregnancy ra
te data) from stranded and by
-
caught cetaceans can be used to construct life
tables and to estimate overall mortality and fisheries mortality rates. Age and maturity were
determined from stranded and by
-
caught
Delphinus
between 1990 and 2009. Males and
fem
ales reach sexual maturity at 8.5 and 7.5 years of age, respectively, and no temporal
difference in age at sexual maturity was observed. Results indicate 13% annual mortality in
the
Delphinus delphis
north
-
east Atlantic population and necropsy data suggest
s that 60% of
mortality (i.e. 7.2% annual mortality) is attributable to fisheries interactions, predominantly
from pair trawls and gillnets. By
-
caught
Delphinus
were found to die significantly younger
than non
-
by
-
caught animals (p=<0.001) although no sex
-
r
elated difference in bycatch rate
was observed (p=0.051). The estimated annual mortality due to fisheries interactions greatly
exceeds the 2% limit set by ASCOBANS and the IWC and high bycatch rates are also
reported for other countries e.g. the UK, France
and Portugal. Although
Delphinus delphis
in
the north
-
east Atlantic is one continuous population, the high level of bycatch occurring in
parts of the range is most likely unsustainable and will be discussed. There is a need to carry
out on
-
board monitorin
g, notably in the north
-
west Iberian Peninsula (Galicia and Portugal),
to incorporate cetacean bycatch into fisheries advice and, above all, to start introducing
mitigation measures