Pilot Study to Determine the Movements of Buoy Line Used in the Crab Pot Fishery to Assess Bottlenose Dolphin Entanglement

摘要

Entanglement in fishing gear is a continuing threat to coastal bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) throughout the world. While net fisheries pose a significant risk to bottlenose dolphins (Read, 1994), bottom fixed-gear, such as trap/pot gear, are known to pose similar risks for entanglement. Between 1992 and 2006, eight bottlenose dolphins were found dead entangled in crab pot buoy lines in South Carolina. An additional eight bottlenose dolphins stranded dead in South Carolina without gear attached but with rope wounds indicative of entanglement in crab buoy lines. Further, eight bottlenose dolphins in South Carolina have been successfully disentangled from crab pot buoy lines since 1996, five of these since 2003. A recent study investigating the effect of the Atlantic blue crab fishery on bottlenose dolphin mortality in South Carolina (Burdett and McFee, 2004) found that this fishery is a significant source of mortality for bottlenose dolphins.