REDUCING BYCATCH OF THREATENED MEGAFAUNA IN THE EAST CENTRAL ATLANTIC

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REDUCE will unify stakeholder efforts and utilize an interdisciplinary scientific approach to reduce bycatch of marine megafauna and inform sustainable fishery management in the Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean. The diagnosis and integration of bycatch data across all industrial European fleets in the region, linked with fishing effort and the spatiotemporal distribution of the species, will provide a systematic approach to jointly assess and tackle policy challenges. The expansion and improvement of the observer programmes and the advances in electronic monitoring and automated machine learning systems will enable species-specific and high-resolution data of marine megafauna bycatch. Fine-scale GPS tracking of selected species combined with AIS fishery data in concurrent time will allow understanding key drivers of interactions and infer political responsibilities. New fine-scale tracking data of carefully selected species in the region will allow for a better understanding of their abundance and distribution and post-release mortality. Sightings, fishery catches and tracking data on marine megafauna will be combined to provide a step-changes in predictive habitat mapping approaches to understand overlap and bycatch risk from local to basin-scales. The combination of timeseries of sightings, fishery catches, GPS and GLS tracking and capture-mark-recapture studies, will provide an unprecedented view on megafauna hotspots and the risks and impacts of bycatch, boosting marine spatial planning or pelagic waters. Assessment and testing of mitigation measures will identify key approaches to significantly reduce bycatch in the region. Innovative and efficient data handling, sharing and publishing will establish an integrated approach to the bycatch data community. Capacity and cooperation between science, fishery industry and policymakers bordering Eastern Central Atlantic Ocean will be boosted by joint multi-disciplinary workshops, scientific training and monitoring events.