Conflict between Dolphins and a Data-Scarce Fishery of the European Union

Abstract

Fisheries depredation by marine mammals is an economic concern worldwide. We combined questionnaires, acoustic monitoring, and participatory experiments to investigate the occurrence of bottlenose dolphins in the fisheries of Northern Cyprus, and the extent of their conflict with set-nets, an economically important metier of Mediterranean fisheries. Dolphins were present in fishing grounds throughout the year and were detected at 28% of sets. Net damage was on average six times greater where dolphins were present, was correlated with dolphin presence, and the associated costs were considerable. An acoustic deterrent pinger was tested, but had no significant effect although more powerful pingers could have greater impact. However, our findings indicate that effective management of fish stocks is urgently required to address the overexploitation that is likely driving depredation behaviour in dolphins, that in turn leads to net damage and the associated costs to the fisheries.