Menu

Volume 52, No. 1

Search by author or title:

Ecological experiences and perceptions of small-scale gillnet and purse seine fishers on seabirds and other non-target taxa in the Humboldt Current System, Chile.


Authors

CRISTIÁN G. SUAZO1*, CRISTÓBAL ANGUITA2, JAIME OJEDA3,4, GUILLERMO LUNA-JORQUERA5, MARITZA SEPÚLVEDA6 & OLIVER YATES7
1Albatross Task Force, BirdLife International, Casilla 698, Puerto Montt, Chile biosuazo@gmail.com
2Laboratorio de Ecología de Vida Silvestre, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Conservación de la Naturaleza, Universidad de Chile, Santa Rosa 11315, Santiago, Chile
3School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, David Turpin Building, B243 Victoria, British Columbia, V8P 5C2, Canada
4Cape Horn International Center (CHIC), Universidad de Magallanes, Avenue Bulnes 01855, 6200000 Punta Arenas, Chile
5Universidad Católica del Norte, Millennium Nucleus of Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Island (ESMOI), Larrondo 1281, Coquimbo, Chile
6Centro de Investigación y Gestión de los Recursos Naturales (CIGREN), Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Valparaíso, Gran Bretaña 1111, Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile
7BirdLife International Marine Programme, RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 2DL, United Kingdom

Citation

SUAZO, C.G., ANGUITA, C., OJEDA, J., LUNA-JORQUERA, G., SEPÚLVEDA, M. & YATES, O. 2024. Ecological experiences and perceptions of small-scale gillnet and purse seine fishers on seabirds and other non-target taxa in the Humboldt Current System, Chile.. Marine Ornithology 52: 27 - 36
http://doi.org/10.5038/2074-1235.52.1.1556

Received 27 July 2023, accepted 14 September 2023

Date Published: 2024/04/15
Date Online: 2024/02/10
Key words: artisanal fisheries, ecological knowledge, management, mitigation, multispecies, fisheries

Abstract

Strategies to reduce the negative impacts of fisheries on ecosystems often come into conflict with fishers who have different experiences with, and perceptions of, biodiversity compared to policy makers and fisheries managers. We interviewed 800 fishers along 2400 kilometers of the Humboldt Current System (HCS) coast, assessing fishers' perceptions of the impacts of marine predators on fishing and their proposals to reduce conflicts with small-scale net fisheries. Vessel captains saw seabirds as positive indicators of fish presence along the HCS (mean probability 62.7%). In contrast, sea lions were perceived negatively, affecting catches for all fishers and causing fishing gear damage among gillnet fishers (97.1%). Among different measures suggested by fishers to reduce conflicts with non-target taxa, night fishing and marine protected areas (MPAs) were viewed as least likely to be implemented because these affect fishing performance (6% and 13.1%) through changes to at-sea safety and fishing effort displacement, respectively. In contrast, economic compensation and culling of currently protected sea lions were the most popular but also the most sensitive measures (31% and 33%, respectively). Different dimensions of experiences and perceptions of fishers are key to the bottom-up understanding of interactions in small-scale fisheries. This is especially true when measures to mitigate their impacts do not have any consolidated installation/monitoring, which is a continuing challenge for these types of fisheries globally. This study emphasizes the role of small-scale fishers as a source of diverse ecological experiences and perceptions to complement knowledge on sensitive conservation issues.

References


ACEVEDO, J.R., AGUAYO-LOBO, A. & SIELFELD, W.K. 2003. Eventos reproductivos del león marino común, Otaria flavescens (Shaw 1800), en el norte de Chile (Pacífico suroriental). Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía 38: 69-75. doi:10.4067/s0718-19572003000200003

ALEXANDRE, S., MARÇALO, A., MARQUES, T.A. ET AL. 2022. Interactions between air-breathing marine megafauna and artisanal fisheries in Southern Iberian Atlantic waters: Results from an interview survey to fishers. Fisheries Research 254: 106430. doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2022.106430

BAN, N.C., WILSON, E. & NEASLOSS, D. 2020. Historical and contemporary indigenous marine conservation strategies in the North Pacific. Conservation Biology 34: 5-14. doi:10.1111/cobi.13432

BARAFF, L.S. & LOUGHLIN, T.R. 2000. Trends and potential interactions between pinnipeds and fisheries of New England and the U.S. West Coast. Marine Fisheries Review 62: 1-39.

BASTIAN, M., HEYMANN, S. & JACOMY, M. 2009. Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks. Proceedings of the Third International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media 3: 361-362. doi:10.1609/icwsm.v3i1.13937

BENNETT, N.J., WHITTY, T.S., FINKBEINER, E. ET AL. 2018. Environmental stewardship: a conceptual review and analytical framework. Environmental Management 61: 597-614. doi:10.1007/s00267-017-0993-2

BERKSTRÖM, C., PAPADOPOULOS, M., JIDDAWI, N.S. & NORDLUND, L.M. 2019. Fishers' Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) on Connectivity and Seascape Management. Frontiers in Marine Science 6: 130. doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00130

BRADSHAW, G.A. & BEKOFF, M. 2001. Ecology and social responsibility: the re-embodiment of science. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16: 460-465. doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(01)02204-2

CAPPOZZO, H. & PERRIN, W. 2009. South American sea lion Otaria flavescens. In: PERRIN, W., WÜRSIG, B. & THEWISSEN, J. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Amsterdam, Nethoerlands: Academic Press/Elsevier.

CHAN, K.M.A., BALVANERA, P., BENESSAIAH, K. ET AL. 2016. Why protect nature? Rethinking values and the environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113: 1462-1465. doi:10.1073/pnas.1525002113

CRAWFORD, R., ELLENBERG, U., FRERE, E. ET AL. 2017. Tangled and drowned: a global review of penguin bycatch in fisheries. Endangered Species Research 34: 373-396. doi:10.3354/esr00869

CROXALL, J.P., BUTCHART, S.H.M., LASCELLES, B. ET AL. 2012. Seabird conservation status, threats and priority actions: a global assessment. Bird Conservation International 22: 1-34. doi:10.1017/S0959270912000020

CURSACH, J., RAU, J.R., THER, F., VILUGRÓN, J. & TOBAR, C. 2012. Synanthropy and marine conservation: the case of the marine otter Lontra felina in Southern Chile. Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía 47: 593-597.

CURSACH, J.A., RAU, J.R., THER-RÍOS, F. ET AL. 2021. Los pescadores artesanales de tres zonas costeras de Chile difieren en su percepción acerca de la situación poblacional del Pelícano de Humboldt (Pelecanus thagus). Revista Chilena de Ornitología 27: 71-76.

CURSACH, J.A., VILUGRÓN, J., TOBAR, C. ET AL. 2016. Conocimiento local sobre aves marinas por pescadores artesanales de Bahía San Pedro, costa de Purranque, centro de Chile. Revista Chilena de Ornitología 22: 120-125.

DIAS, M.P., MARTIN, R., PEARMAIN, E.J. ET AL. 2019. Threats to seabirds: A global assessment. Biological Conservation 237: 525-537. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.033

DÍAZ, S., PASCUAL, U., STENSEKE, M. ET AL. 2018. Assessing nature's contributions to people: Recognizing culture, and diverse sources of knowledge, can improve assessments. Science 359: 270-272. doi:10.1126/science.aap8826

Discard Reduction Plans. n.d. Valparaíso, Chile: SUBPESCA. [Accessed at http://www.subpesca.cl on 02 May 2023.]

DOLMAN, S., BAULCH, S., EVANS, P.G.H., READ, F. & RITTER, F. 2016. Towards an EU Action Plan on Cetacean Bycatch. Marine Policy 72: 67-75. doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2016.06.020

GEORGE-NASCIMENTO, M., BUSTAMANTE, R. & OYARZUN, C. 1985. Feeding ecology of the South American sea lion Otaria flavescens: food contents and food selectivity. Marine Ecology Progress Series 21: 135-143. doi:10.3354/meps021135

GÓMEZ-CAMPOS, E., BORRELL, A., CARDONA, L., FORCADA, J. & AGUILAR, A. 2011. Overfishing of small pelagic fishes increases trophic overlap between immature and mature striped dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea. PLoS One 6. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024554

GONZALVO, J., GIOVOS, I. & MOUTOPOULOS, D.K. 2015. Fishermen's perception on the sustainability of small-scale fisheries and dolphin-fisheries interactions in two increasingly fragile coastal ecosystems in western Greece. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 25: 95-106. doi:10.1002/aqc.2444

HALL, M.A., ALVERSON, D.L. & METUZALS, K.I. 2000. By-catch: problems and solutions. Marine Pollution Bulletin 41: 204-219. doi:10.1016/S0025-326X(00)00111-9

HOOKER, S.K. & GERBER, L.R. 2004. Marine reserves as a tool for ecosystem-based management: the potential importance of megafauna. BioScience 54: 27-39. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0027:MRAATF]2.0.CO;2

LAVIGNE, D. 2003. Marine mammals and fisheries: The role of science in the culling debate. In: GALES, N., HINDELL, M. & KIRKWOOD, R. (Eds.) Marine Mammals: Fisheries, Tourism and Management Issues. Clayton, Australia: CSIRO Publishing

LIU, J., DIETZ, T., CARPENTER, S.R. ET AL. 2007. Complexity of coupled human and natural systems. Science 317: 1513-1516. doi:10.1126/science.1144004

LØKKEBORG, S. 2011. Best practices to mitigate seabird bycatch in longline, trawl and gillnet fisheries-efficiency and practical applicability. Marine Ecology Progress Series 435: 285-303. doi:10.3354/meps09227

LYDAY, S.E., BALLANCE, L.T., FIELD, D.B. & DAVID HYRENBACH, K. 2015. Shearwaters as ecosystem indicators: towards fishery-independent metrics of fish abundance in the California Current. Journal of Marine Systems 146: 109-120. doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2014.08.010

MACHADO, A.M. da S., DAURA-JORGE, F.G., HERBST, D.F. ET AL. 2019. Artisanal fishers' perceptions of the ecosystem services derived from a dolphin-human cooperative fishing interaction in southern Brazil. Ocean and Coastal Management 173: 148-156. doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.03.003

MACHADO, R., OTT, P.H., MORENO, I.B. ET AL. 2016. Operational interactions between South American sea lions and gillnet fishing in southern Brazil. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 26: 108-120. doi:10.1002/aqc.2554

MANGEL, J.C., WANG, J., ALFARO-SHIGUETO, J. ET AL. 2018. Illuminating gillnets to save seabirds and the potential for multi-taxa bycatch mitigation. Royal Society Open Science 5: 180254. doi:10.1098/rsos.180254

MELVIN, E. 2013. Criteria for best practice seabird bycatch mitigation. SBWG5 Doc 32. Fifth Meeting of the Seabird Bycatch Working Group. La Rochelle, France: Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.

MELVIN, E.F., WOLFAARDT, A., CRAWFORD, R., GILMAN, E. & SUAZO, C.G. 2023. Bycatch reduction. In: YOUNG, L. & VANDERWERF, E. (Eds.) Conservation of Marine Birds. New York, USA: Academic Press. doi:10.1016/B978-0-323-88539-3.00018-2

MORENO, C., CASTRO, R., MÚJICA, L. & REYES, P. 2008. Significant conservation benefits obtained from the use of a new fishing gear in the Chilean industrial Patagonian toothfish fishery. CCAMLR Science 15: 79-91.

MORISSETTE, L., CHRISTENSEN, V. & PAULY, D. 2012. Marine mammal impacts in exploited ecosystems: would large scale culling benefit fisheries? PLoS One 7: e43966. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0043966

MUÑOZ, L., PAVEZ, G., QUIÑONES, R.A., OLIVA, D., SANTOS, M. & SEPÚLVEDA, M. 2013. Diet plasticity of the South American sea lion in Chile: stable isotope evidence. Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía 48: 613-622. doi:10.4067/s0718-19572013000300017

OJEDA, J., SALOMON, A.K., ROWE, J.K. & BAN, N.C. 2022. Reciprocal contributions between people and nature: a conceptual intervention. BioScience 72: 952-962.

OLIVEIRA, N., ALMEIDA, A.N.A., ALONSO, H. ET AL. 2021. A contribution to reducing bycatch in a high priority area for seabird conservation in Portugal. Bird Conservation International 31: 553-572. doi:10.1017/S0959270920000489

PASCUAL, U., BALVANERA, P., DÍAZ, S. ET AL. 2017. Valuing nature's contributions to people: the IPBES approach. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 26-27: 7-16. doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2016.12.006

POTT, C. & WIEDENFELD, D.A. 2017. Information gaps limit our understanding of seabird bycatch in global fisheries. Biological Conservation 210: 192-204. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2017.04.002

R CORE TEAM 2013. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: The R Foundation for Statistical Computing. [Accessed at https://www.r-project.org/ on 09 September 2018.]

REYES, P., HUCKE-GAETE, R. & TORRES-FLOREZ, J.P. 2013. First observations of operational interactions between bottom-trawling fisheries and South American sea lion, Otaria flavescens in south-central Chile. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 93: 489-494. doi:10.1017/S0025315412001282

RIGBY, R.A., STASINOPOULOS, D.M. & LANE, P.W. 2005. Generalized additive models for location, scale and shape. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series C: Applied Statistics 54: 507-554. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9876.2005.00510.x

ROBERTSON, G., WIENECKE, B., SUAZO, C.G., LAWTON, K., ARATA, J.A. & MORENO, C. 2017. Continued increase in the number of black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophris) at Diego Ramírez, Chile. Polar Biology 40: 1035-1042. doi:10.1007/s00300-016-2028-5

ROSEN, D.A.S. & TRITES, A.W. 2000. Pollock and the decline of Steller sea lions: Testing the junk-food hypothesis. Canadian Journal of Zoology 78: 1243-1250. doi:10.1139/z00-060

RUANO-CHAMORRO, C., SUBIDA, M. & FERNÁNDEZ, M. 2017. Fisher's perception: an alternative source of information to assess the data-poor benthic small-scale artisanal fisheries of central Chile. Ocean & Coastal Management 146: 67-76.

SENKO, J., WHITE, E.R., HEPPELL, S.S. & GERBER, L.R. 2014. Comparing bycatch mitigation strategies for vulnerable marine megafauna. Animal Conservation 17: 5-18. doi:10.1111/acv.12051

SEPÚLVEDA, M., MARTÍNEZ, T., OLIVA, D. ET AL. 2018. Factors affecting the operational interaction between the South American sea lions and the artisan gillnet fishery in Chile. Fisheries Research 201: 147-152. doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2018.01.014

SEPÚLVEDA, M., OLIVA, D.P. & PALMA, F.J. 2001. Daily and annual circarhythms activity in the South American sea lion Otaria flavescens (Carnivora: Otariidae) at the central zone of Chile. Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía 36: 181-187. doi:10.4067/s0718-19572001000200006

SEPÚLVEDA, M., PÉREZ, M.J., SIELFELD, W. ET AL. 2007. Operational interaction between South American sea lions Otaria flavescens and artisanal (small-scale) fishing in Chile: Results from interview surveys and on-board observations. Fisheries Research 83: 332-340. doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2006.10.009

SÖFFKER, M., TRATHAN, P., CLARK, J., COLLINS, M.A., BELCHIER, M. & SCOTT, R. 2015. The impact of predation by marine mammals on Patagonian toothfish longline fisheries. PLoS One 10: e0118113. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118113

SOGA, M. & GASTON, K.J. 2016. Extinction of experience: The loss of human-nature interactions. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 14: 94-101. doi:10.1002/fee.1225

SUAZO, C.G., CABEZAS, L.A., MORENO, C.A. ET AL. 2014. Seabird bycatch in Chile: a synthesis of its impacts, and a review of strategies to contribute to the reduction of a global phenomenon. Pacific Seabirds 41: 1-12.

SUAZO, C.G., FRERE, E., GARCÍA, M., COCAS, L. & YATES, O. 2017. Assessment of the “Modified Purse Seine (MPS)” against ACAP best practice criteria. SBWG8 Doc21. Eighth Meeting of the Seabird Bycatch Working Group. Wellington, New Zealand: Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.

SUAZO, C.G., SCHLATTER, R.P., ARRIAGADA, A.M., CABEZAS, L.A. & OJEDA, J. 2013. Fishermen's perceptions of interactions between seabirds and artisanal fisheries in the Chonos archipelago, Chilean Patagonia. Oryx 47: 184-189. doi:10.1017/S0030605311001815

SUBPESCA. 2023. Estado de la situación de las principales pesquerías chilenas, 2022. Valparaíso, Chile: Departamento de Pesquerías División de Administración Pesquera, Subsecretaría de Pesca y Acuicultura.

THIEL, M., MACAYA, E.C., ACUÑA, E. ET AL. 2007. The Humboldt Current System of northern and central Chile - Oceanographic processes, ecological interactions and socioeconomic feedback. Oceanography and Marine Biology 45: 195-344.

TRITES, A.W. & DONNELLY, C.P. 2003. The decline of Steller sea lions Eumetopias jubatus in Alaska: a review of the nutritional stress hypothesis. Mammal Review 33: 3-28. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2907.2003.00009.x

URRA, A., SEPÚLVEDA, M., OLIVA, D. ET AL. 2011. Evaluación de la interacción entre el lobo marino común y la salmonicultura para la generación de políticas públicas y privadas tendientes a mejorar la productividad del sector salmonero y la sustentabilidad del recurso lobo marino común. Valparaíso, Chile: Universidad de Valparaíso.

WANG, Y., NAUMANN, U., WRIGHT, S. & WARTON, D. 2014. mvabund: Statistical methods for analysing multivariate abundance data. [Accessed at https://rdrr.io/cran/mvabund/man/mvabund-package.html on 09 September 2018.]

WANG, Y., NAUMANN, U., WRIGHT, S.T. & WARTON, D.I. 2012. Mvabund: an R package for model-based analysis of multivariate abundance data. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 3: 471-474. doi:10.1111/j.2041-210X.2012.00190.x

WARD, E.J., MARSHALL, K.N., ROSS, T. ET AL. 2015. Using citizen-science data to identify local hotspots of seabird occurrence. PeerJ 3: e704. doi:10.7717/peerj.704

WICKENS, P. 1995. A Review of Operational Interactions Between Pinnipeds and Fisheries. FAO Technical Paper 346. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Search by author or title:

Browse previous volumes: