Understanding the impact of marine mammal bycatch

Tender description

Marine mammal populations are well known to be impacted by accidental entrapment in fishing gear through much of the world Reeves et al 2013, and within the UK as elsewhere accidental capture in fisheries is the primary conservation issue for this species group overall. The UK has international obligations to monitor and where necessary to mitigate bycatch, stemming from agreements under the Bonn Convention on Highly Migratory Species and through the International Whaling Commission. Under the Aichi targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Target 6 under Strategic Goal B is to ensure that fisheries have no significant adverse impacts on threatened species and vulnerable ecosystems and the impacts of fisheries on stocks, species and ecosystems are within safe ecological limits. There are also binding obligations under the EU Habitats Directive to monitor bycatch and address conservation concerns, while the Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires member states to ensure good environmental status GES, and the UK sees continued bycatch monitoring and mitigation as key to ensuring GES is maintained Marine Strategy Part Three: UK Programme of Measures December 2015. The UK has been in the forefront of international efforts to ensure fishery impacts on marine mammals are understood and addressed