Dear MARMAM community,

 

I am delighted to share our new article published a few days ago in Fisheries Research entitled “First trials of commercially available pingers for cetacean bycatch reduction in Icelandic bottom set gillnet fishery”. You can access the full article (open access) here: https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0165-7836(26)00023-8

Citation: Jusufovski, D. & Sigurðsson, G.M. (2026) First trials of commercially available pingers for cetacean bycatch reduction in Icelandic bottom set gillnet fishery. Fisheries Research 294: 107670. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2026.107670

Abstract: Various sound-based devices designed to reduce bycatch of small marine mammals in gillnet fisheries have become widely available, yet still remain insufficiently tested in commercial fisheries settings. Thus far, no such device has been tested in the Icelandic cod (Gadus morhua) gillnet fishery which has a notable marine mammal bycatch. To investigate the potential of reducing marine mammal bycatch problem in the gillnet fishery, we tested three acoustic deterrent devices (ADDs): 1) the Fishtek Banana pingers, 2) Porpoise ALert device (PAL),

and 3) wideband PAL (wPAL) with a modified pinger signal. The ADD trials were conducted in three different coastal regions of Iceland, where high bycatch has been observed. The ADDs were tested using 12-panel gillnets with three different mesh sizes commonly used in commercial fisheries. In this study, only harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena; N = 48) and white-beaked dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris; N = 5) were captured during trials. Contrary to prior research, Banana pingers and PALs did not demonstrate any reduction of bycatch, while the wPAL-equipped nets had no bycatch during the trial. Fish catch and overall commercial value was significantly reduced in gillnets equipped with Banana pingers and PALs than in wPALs. Additionally, PAL-equipped gillnets captured more male than female harbor porpoises. While these trials present a baseline for understanding the effect of the three ADDs on cetacean bycatch, further research needs to address the conditions leading to poor effectiveness of Banana and PAL devices in gillnet fishing.

Best regards,