Fisheries interactions

Fisheries are extremely important in the context of marine mammal ecology, conservation, and behavior. Fisheries have changed the structure and dynamics of many fish and other prey populations. Competition between marine mammals and fisheries would seem inevitable, but the complexities of marine food webs mean that impacts of one on the other may be substantially dampened and have proved very difficult to demonstrate. Operational interactions, whereby marine mammals use fishing gear to improve their foraging efficiency are widespread. Marine mammals have learned to exploit numerous gear types, sometimes without causing any loss to the fishery, occasionally by cooperating with fisheries, but most often by taking catch from gear and often also damaging the fishing gear, both considerable problems. Various measures have been developed to minimize bycatch and damage, most frequently involving either acoustic deterrence or changes to the gear or mode of operation.