Interactions between bottlenose dolphin and midwater pair trawls: effect of pingers on dolphin behaviour

EC Regulation 812/2004 imposes to EU Member States to monitor the commercial fishing vessels for the evaluation of by-catch of cetaceans and its mitigation. In order to reduce the interactions with fishing vessels and to minimise the risk of incidental catch of cetaceans, acoustic pingers were tested on commercial midwater pair-trawlers in Central Adriatic Sea. A reduced number of sightings in presence of pinger was registered, even if the effect of this device was not statistically significant.