ACAP Small Grant 2024-02

Developing seabird bycatch mitigation options for the Mahi-mahi surface longline fishery in Peru 

Project Leader: Ana Alegre Norza Sior, PhD, head Área Funcional de Recursos Trans zonales y Altamente Migratorios, Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE)

Co-investigators: Javier Quiñones Davila, IMARPE, Callao,
Igor Debski & Johannes Fischer, Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand.
Dave Goad, PhD, contractor for the Department of Conservation, Tauranga, New Zealand.
Jairo Calderon, Cynthia Romero, & Gersson Roman. IMARPE, Callao.

Amount Awarded: AUD 65,300 (Partially supported by a Voluntary Contribution from Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy)

The Northern Humboldt Upwelling System is a highly productive marine ecosystem and the waters off Peru attract many highly migratory species, such as albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters. The waters off northern Peru form an important part of the range of Waved Albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) from Galapagos, the non-breeding range of Black Petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni) and Salvin’s albatross (Thalassarche salvini), and White-chinned petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis) from New Zealand and is on the migratory pathway of Pink-footed Shearwater (Ardenna creatopus) from Chile, there are also several other species such as Southern Ocean Skuas, Northern hemisphere Jeagers, seagulls, among others. All these ACAP-listed species are known to be highly susceptible to bycatch in longline fisheries.

The mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus) is a highly migratory epipelagic species, restricted to oceanic waters and distributed from 40°N to 40°S. In Peru, this resource has a high spatial-temporal variability distribution: from November to January the highest concentrations occur between 09°-11°S at an average of 190 nautical miles (nm) offshore, and from February-March occur between 12-13°S at 115 nm along the coast (Torrejon et al., 2019). However, the artisanal Mahi-mahi fishery is distributed in the whole Peruvian coastline from the boundary with Ecuador (03°23’S) until the boundary with Chile (18°20’S) and from October to April with a clearly spatio-temporal dynamic, being exclusively captured by the artisanal fleet (Gozzer, 2015, FAO, 2016; IMARPE, 2023; 2024).

Currently the Peruvian Mahi-mahi fishery is the second most important artisanal fishery in Peru, representing more than 40% of the world catches since 2000 (FAO, FishStat 2024). This species is almost entirely targeted by the artisanal fleet (Solano, et al, 2015). Peru's socioeconomic activity is greatly impacted by the mahi-mahi fishery, which provides thousands of jobs and fresh and frozen products for human consumption directly and indirectly.

The nature of the gear configuration used in this fishery results in baited hooks potentially being available to seabirds close to the surface during the entire fishing period, thus posing bycatch risk. Indeed, according to the onboard forms and to some people involved in the mahi-mahi fishing activity, the highest interaction is not during the shooting (deployment) or during the hauling, with the soaking time being the period where more bycatch occurs. This makes sense, since the snoods remain close to the surface, and in this project we intend to test this assumption. As such, seabird bycatch mitigation options targeted only at deterring birds during the setting period may not be adequate to minimise seabird bycatch in this fishery. Because baited hooks are purposefully set in surface waters in order to target the catch of Mahi-mahi, there is reluctance by operators to change the target fishing depth as it is assumed this would impact target catch.

On the other hand, it is important to highlight that in 2021, a Fisheries Management Regulation has been issued in Peru (Supreme Decree No. 017-2021-PRODUCE), which, among its complementary provisions, requires that artisanal fishermen be trained in good practices for the release of sea turtles, seabirds and other species of incidental catch under the scope of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission - IATTC, and in accordance with the Agreement for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels - ACAP and with a express recommendation of the LOFF list (List of Foreign Fisheries) from NOOA, USA.

Objectives

The ultimate goal of this project is to reduce the bycatch of seabird species, with a focus on the critically endangered waved albatross, and other vulnerable species such as the Salvin’s albatross, black petrel, pink-footed shearwater, among others.

Initially, we aim to characterize seabird interactions at seasonal scales, by means of identifying the species composition that most interacts with the mahi-mahi fishery in northern Peru. We aim to identify in which specific moment of the operability (deploying, soaking and hauling) the interactions takes place, and in which part of the gear (entanglements with the mother line or snoods, eating the baited hooks, among others).

According to the initial characterization, we will test the most feasible and effective bycatch mitigation options to reduce the availability of baited hooks to birds. We will test a suite of affordable mitigation measures to ensure its implementation by the low income mahi-mahi artisanal fishermen.