15 March 2016

* Report of the workshop is available here.

February 2016 | Honolulu. One of the major obstacles to assessing and mitigating bycatch is the confidentiality of data. In the case of sea turtles, most fishers do not record them in logbooks, and the observer datasets which do record them are often maintained and analysed individually by national observer programmes. In February the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, supported by the Common Oceans (ABNJ) Tuna Project, held the first in a series of joint analysis workshops designed to trial new ways of respecting data confidentiality while at the same time combining data sets for maximum analytical power.

The four-day workshop was hosted by the Western Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Council in Honolulu, Hawaii. With travel support provided by the Common Oceans (ABNJ) Tuna Project, the workshop comprised invited participants representing 14 countries from all three oceans, as well as IGOs and NGOs, all of whom contributed data and/or expertise. The workshop dataset may be the world’s largest compilation of data to date on longline fisheries and sea turtle interactions involving over 2,300 turtles caught by 31 fleets between 1989-2015. To protect data confidentiality, data access was restricted to Pacific Community (SPC) scientists, who played the crucial roles of real-time data manager and analyst. Participants worked their way through models and maps estimating the likelihood of sea turtle catch and mortality using different combinations of longline gear, with SPC producing results and continuously revising products to reflect discussions. By the end of the workshop when data access permissions expired participants had produced all of the input necessary to estimate interactions and mortality for four species of sea turtles across the entire Western and Central Pacific Ocean. A second workshop, tentatively planned for August 2016, will focus on producing and refining these estimates and on recommending potential policy and data improvements.

Demonstrating new initiatives for data sharing is one of the most important steps the Common Oceans (ABNJ) Tuna Project can take toward reducing bycatch and conserving biodiversity in the world’s tuna fisheries. The project team hopes to build on this initial success with Pacific sea turtles across oceans, fisheries and taxa in the remaining years of the project.

• Dr Shelley Clarke, Common Oceans Tuna Project Technical Coordinator-Sharks and Bycatch | [email protected]
• Mr Alejandro Anganuzzi, Global Coordinator for the Common Oceans Tuna Project | [email protected]