2026/02/01 by Matías Braccini, Abbey Shuttleworth, Jack Parker +4 · 2 voices
Environmental Science · #Ichthyology and Marine Biology #Marine animal studies overview #Marine and fisheries research
paper · doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2026.107673
Commercial shark fisheries use mostly demersal gillnets and demersal longlines to catch the target species. However, they also interact with non-target species and Endangered, Threatened and Protected species (ETPs), with gillnets generally having a negative connotation. We used underwater cameras (>3500 h of footage) on 52 fishing shots to document the behaviours and interactions of marine wildlife with the demersal gillnets and longlines used in Western Australia to target several shark species. We observed > 25,000 individuals from a range of taxa (5 invertebrates, 11 rays, 20 sharks, 156 scalefish, 1 sea turtle, 1 seabird, and 2 marine mammals) and identified 10 different behaviour/interaction types. ‘Swim past’ was the only observed behaviour/interaction for invertebrates and the most observed for scalefish (66 %), rays (64 %) and sharks (62 %), including ETPs (63 %), which were rarely seen (<0.6 % of the observed individuals). Our results revealed an overall low incidence of detrimental (gear capture) marine wildlife interactions, contributing to the broader understanding of demersal gillnet and longline selectivity and impacts on marine biodiversity. This methods study provides a framework for quantifying wildlife interactions in commercial fisheries, offering a novel tool for future research to inform ecological risk assessments.