The effect of pingers on cetaceans bycatch and target catch in the turbot gillnets in Bulgarian Black Sea

The present study is the first experiment to determine whether acoustic deterrent devices (pingers) reduce cetaceans’ bycatch in the turbot gillnets and catch rates of the target fish in the Bulgarian Black Sea territorial waters. During the study period 2017–2019, 12.4 km of turbot gillnets were in...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: ZORNITSA ZAHARIEVA, NELKO YORDANOV, VENISLAVA RACHEVA, VENTSESLAV DELOV
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:Bulgarian
English
Published: Plovdiv University 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/cb8f14594c654d93b4628caedecaa7a7
Description
Summary:The present study is the first experiment to determine whether acoustic deterrent devices (pingers) reduce cetaceans’ bycatch in the turbot gillnets and catch rates of the target fish in the Bulgarian Black Sea territorial waters. During the study period 2017–2019, 12.4 km of turbot gillnets were included in the experiment. They were equipped with 10 kHz Porpoise Pingers “Future Oceans”. Observations were carried out on regular bases on active (with pingers) and on control nets (without pingers). The results showed that the pingers used were very effective in reducing cetaceans bycatch in turbot gillnets without affecting the target catch.