Whale Entanglements and Gear Modifications December 2014 Jason How
Entanglements per season
Big reduction entanglements Three possible causes: –Gear Modifications –Change fishing practice –Change whale migration Season (Gear) Evaluation
Migration Timing
Preliminary Depth –2-20 fathom (9-15 fthm) From coast –5-21 km (10 km) More Data –Satellite Tagging –Sightings Spatial Model
Go into spatial model Occasional sightings Power Users –Steam in –Log start –Record all whale (#) –CDR port Whale Sightings WA as of 20 September 2014
Fisher Behaviour
Recovered Gear 70 WRL (28 %) 3 Octopus (17 %) responded
Conclusion Gear modifications used in 2014 –Total entanglements down 32 to 14 – WRL entanglements down 18 to 6 –Octopus entanglements down 3 to 2 Investigating whale migration and fishing effort Assistance in data collection –Power user (whale sightings WA) –Surveys of gear
Forum Gear modifications used in 2014 –How were they…. Gear modifications for 2015 –Improvement / Issues Minister Ministerial Whale Entanglement Taskforce Operational Whale Entanglement Reference Group Forums Dongara Hillarys Survey