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Purse‐seine fishers using drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs), mainly built with bamboo, plastic buoys, and plastic netting, to aggregate and catch tropical tuna, deploy 46,000–65,000 dFADs per year in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the major concerns associated with this widespread fishing device are potential entanglement of sea turtles and other marine fauna in dFAD netting; marine debris and pollution; and potential ecological damage via stranding on coral reefs, beaches, and other essential habitats for marine fauna. To assess and quantify the potential connectivity (number of dFADs deployed in an area and arriving in another area) between dFAD deployment areas and important oceanic or coastal habitat of critically endangered leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) sea turtles in the Pacific Ocean, we conducted passive‐drift Lagrangian experiments with simulated dFAD drift profiles and compared them with known important sea turtle areas. Up to 60% of dFADs from equatorial areas were arriving in essential sea turtle habitats. Connectivity was less when only areas where dFADs are currently deployed were used. Our simulations identified potential regions of dFAD interactions with migration and feeding habitats of the east Pacific leatherback turtle in the tropical southeastern Pacific Ocean; coastal habitats of leatherback and hawksbill in the western Pacific (e.g., archipelagic zones of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands); and foraging habitat of leatherback in a large equatorial area south of Hawaii. Additional research is needed to estimate entanglements of sea turtles with dFADs at sea and to quantify the likely changes in connectivity and distribution of dFADs under new management measures, such as use of alternative nonentangling dFAD designs that biodegrade, or changes in deployment strategies, such as shifting locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2010, two experiments were carried out in order to study ghost fishing generated by lost or abandoned gillnets. The first experiment was aimed to identify and quantify the number of captured specimens in intentionally abandoned gillnet between 45 and 86 m depth, which were periodically checked up to 156 days after being abandoned. In this experiment, 912 specimens of 12 taxa were caught, mostly invertebrates such as Cancer porteri (81.6%) and Platymera gaudichaudii (9%). After the abandonment, the fish caught were only registered until day 63, while benthic species were captured during all the experiment. The second experiment consisted of checking and registering periodically the loss of height of an abandoned gillnet at 34 m depth in order to determine the reduction of the fishing capacity of the net. After 19 days of abandonment, the functional area of the net was reduced to 40% of the original area, reaching nearly zero after 155 days of abandonment. In order to estimate the potential effect of lost or abandoned gillnets in Chilean hake fisheries (Merluccius gayi gayi), an additional information-collecting process must be carried out, mainly in terms of frequency of gillnets losses.

In 2010, two experiments were carried out in order to study ghost fishing generated by lost or abandoned gillnets. The first experiment was aimed to identify and quantify the number of captured specimens in intentionally abandoned gillnet between 45 and 86 m depth, which were periodically checked up to 156 days after being abandoned. In this experiment, 912 specimens of 12 taxa were caught, mostly invertebrates such as Cancer porteri (81.6%) and Platymera gaudichaudii (9%). After the abandonment, the fish caught were only registered until day 63, while benthic species were captured during all the experiment. The second experiment consisted of checking and registering periodically the loss of height of an abandoned gillnet at 34 m depth in order to determine the reduction of the fishing capacity of the net. After 19 days of abandonment, the functional area of the net was reduced to 40% of the original area, reaching nearly zero after 155 days of abandonment. In order to estimate the potential effect of lost or abandoned gillnets in Chilean hake fisheries (Merluccius gayi gayi), an additional information-collecting process must be carried out, mainly in terms of frequency of gillnets losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]