As part of the development of the project “Reducing the impact of tropical shrimp trawling fisheries on living marine resources through the adoption of environmentally friendly techniques and practices”, mainly funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), four regional workshops were conducted during the period between December 1999 and March 2000 in Nigeria, Costa Rica, Iran and Indonesia.
The main objectives of the workshops were to review the situation with regard to impact on the environment of shrimp trawling in each of the four regions and in the 13 participating countries in particular, and to discuss and agree on regional priorities and content of a possible main phase project.
Reports from baseline studies in each of the 13 countries were presented. The most serious problems identified were capture and discard of juvenile food fish and high discard levels of most non-shrimp catch. It was also reported that more and more countries are introducing regulations to reduce discarding of bycatch. In some countries collecting, landing, processing and selling bycatch has become a new and viable occupation for coastal communities. Reduced shrimp catches and different levels of management action, like seasonal closure and mesh size regulations were reported by some countries. Conflicts about the use of fishing grounds and resources between industrial and artisanal fishers was reported to be widespread. The impact of trawling on the bottom habitat is an area where little knowledge exists among the participating countries. It was, however, realized that such impact might be important for some areas and the need for research within this field was stressed. Some countries have in their regulations the mandatory use of the Turtle Excluder Device, but many of these reported low compliance with such regulations.
