Serving as a Scientific Representative on a NMFS Take Reduction Team
By Damon Gannon, PhD

During spring 2005, I was asked by the National Marine Fisheries Service to serve as a scientific representative to the Pelagic Longline Take Reduction Team (Bill McLellan, our colleague from University of North Carolina, Wilmington, is the other scientific representative on the team). Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the government is required to form Take Reduction Teams (TRTs) for commercial fisheries that accidentally kill or seriously injure marine mammals. Take Reduction Teams are composed of experts and stakeholders—representatives from the fishing industry, environmental organizations, government agencies, and the scientific community—who work collaboratively to develop strategies for reducing bycatch of marine mammals. The Pelagic Longline TRT has been convened to develop a plan for reducing the unintended catch of long-finned (Globicephala melas) and short-finned (G. macrorhynchus) pilot whales in the Atlantic pelagic longline fishery. Pelagic longlining is a commercial fishing method in which hundreds of baited hooks are deployed to catch swordfish and tuna. The team has its work cut out for it because interactions between longlines and pilot whales are relatively rare and the nature of these interactions is not well known. Although the rate of incidental catch is low, when extrapolated over all of the boats of the fishery, the total number of whales killed and seriously injured is significant. Pilot whales become ensnared in longlines by blundering into them, by eating the baited hooks, or by depredating the tuna and swordfish that have been caught. The Pelagic Longline TRT was convened in June 2005, and under the law, has until May 2006 to develop a consensus plan for reducing bycatch of pilot whales. The plan must be reviewed by the National Marine Fisheries Service and approved by the Secretary of Commerce. Once the Take Reduction Plan goes into effect, the fishery has five years to reduce pilot whale mortality and serious injury to “insignificant levels approaching zero.” The TRT will meet periodically during this five-year period to assess whether the plan is working satisfactorily and to make any changes that may become necessary.