Ingredients for addressing the challenges of fisheries bycatch

Minimizing fisheries bycatch, the incidental capture of non-target species, is a global environmental challenge. In many regions, bycatch of imperiled species is one of a number of issues that threatens species viability and impedes the development of sustainable fisheries. Effectively addressing bycatch of species of conservation concern and improving fisheries sustainability require cross-sectoral integration of information on the biological, socioeconomic, and political contexts of each fishery. Several gaps present simultaneous challenges, including: limited engagement with fisher communities, a lack of data, a need for more robust analyses of available data, and a need for coordinated governance from local to global scales. Here we present a framework to address fisheries bycatch that builds on established methods in community collaboration and engagement, field-based interviews, quantitative bycatch analyses, and ocean policy governance. Although these individual approaches to reduce bycatch are well established, there has yet to be a comprehensive application of an integrated approach. We review these essential approaches and present a broadly applicable model for their integration.