Workshops.

In this project we want to reduce the bycatch of small and large cetaceans by installing acoustic devices (pingers) on net vessels operating from Mancora, Piura, Peru. Acoustic alarms, also referred to as pingers, are small battery-powered devices attached at intervals along a net that emit a repeated acoustic signal heard by cetaceans and is a bycatch reduction technology used to deter them from fishing nets. We will monitor pinger effectiveness on cetacean bycatch and the catch rates of target species (e.g., tuna and dolphinfish). The information collected will be given directly to the fishers and presented to authorities of each region, with the purpose of communicating to them the availability of tools that can address this issue in Peru. If successful, the use of pingers in this fishery could save hundreds of threatened and endangered small cetaceans annually, e.g., common dolphins (Delphinus spp), common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Given the previously reported interaction rates with humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in this area, this will also be one of the first opportunities globally to test whale pingers in a rigorous way.

Header: Mancora Port.