Dear ColleaguesI hope you are doing well. I would like to let you know that an article (in press) on Mitigating cetacean bycatch in coastalEcuador: Governance challenges for small-scale fisheries has beenpublished in Marine Policy. Mitigating cetacean bycatch in coastal Ecuador:Governance challenges for small-scale fisheriesJuan JoséAlava, Bradley Tatar, María José Barragán, Cristina Castro, Patricia Rosero,Judith Denkinger, Pedro J. Jiménez, Raúl Carvajal, Jorge Samaniego https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2017.05.025 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X16308508 Highlights•Bycatch is a continued conservationthreat for cetaceans in Ecuador's waters.•Government actions to address andmanage bycatch of cetaceans are insufficient.•Empowering fishers’ governance iscrucial to mitigate cetacean bycatch. AbstractBycatch of marine fauna bysmall-scale (artisanal) fisheries is an important anthropogenic mortality sourceto several species of cetaceans, including humpback whales and odontocetes, inEcuador's marine waters. Long-term monitoring actions and varied conservationefforts have been conducted by non-governmental organizations along theEcuadorian coast, pointing toward the need for a concerted mitigation plan andactions to hamper cetaceans’ bycatch. Nevertheless, little has currently beendone by the government and regional authorities to address marine mammalinteractions with fisheries in eastern Pacific Ocean artisanal fisheries. Thisstudy provides a review of Ecuador's current status concerning cetaceanbycatch, and explores the strengths and weaknesses of past and current programsaiming to tackle the challenges of bycatch mitigation. To bolster our appraisalof the policies, a synthesis of fishers’ perceptions of the bycatch problem ispresented in concert with recommendations for fostering fishing community-basedconservation practices integrated with policies to mitigate cetacean bycatch.Our appraisal, based upon the existing literature, indicates a situation ofincreasing urgency. Taking into consideration the fishers’ perceptions andattitudes, fisheries governance in Ecuador should draw inspiration from a trulybottom-up, participatory framework based on stakeholder engagement processes;if it is based on a top-down, regulatory approach, it is less likely tosucceed. To carry out this process, a community-based conservation programs toprovide conditions for empowering fishing communities is recommend. This wouldserve as an initial governance framework for fishery policy for conservingmarine mammals while maximizing the economic benefits from sustainablesmall-scale fisheries in Ecuador. Keywords: Marine mammals; Dolphins; Humpback whale; Bycatch; Small-scale fisheries; Fisheries governance; Ecuador Please,feel free to request a pdf copy at j.alava@oceans.ubc.ca BestWishes!!!JuanJose Alava -----------------------------------------------------------------Juan Jose Alava, PhD Institute for theOceans and Fisheries Faculty of Science, The University of British Columbia AERL 313.02-2202 Main Mall | Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada http://oceans.ubc.ca/juan-jose-alava/ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Juan_Jose_Alava/contributions?ev=prf_ac... https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J_hAHnwAAAAJ&hl=en Research Scientist Ocean Pollution Research Program (OPRP) Coastal Ocean Research Institute (CORI) Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre Vancouver, BC, Canada Adjunct ProfessorResource and Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment, Simon Fraser University 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6,Canada E-mail: jalavasa@sfu.ca https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Juan_Jose_Alava/contributions?ev=prf_ac...