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Acoustic alarms reduce porpoise mortality

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Abstract

The most serious danger to dolphins and porpoises around the world is the threat from various forms of gill-net fishing. One potential way to reduce the number of deaths of marine mammals is the use of active acoustic alarms to warn animals about the presence of nets1. Until now, acoustic alarms have not been tested in field experiments with sufficient statistical power2. Here we describe a field experiment showing that acoustic alarms are effective at reducing the number of deaths of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in sink gill-nets.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. New England Aquarium, Edgerton Research Laboratory , Central Wharf, Boston, 02110, Massachusetts , USA

    Scott D. Kraus

  2. Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort , 28516, North Carolina, USA

    Andrew J. Read

  3. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, 02543, Massachusetts, USA

    Andrew Solow

  4. Department of Ocean Engineering, University of New Hampshire, Durham, 03824, New Hampshire, USA

    Ken Baldwin

  5. Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, 20910, Maryland, USA

    Trevor Spradlin

  6. New Hampshire Commercial Fishermen’s Association , Rye, 03780, New Hampshire, USA

    Eric Anderson & John Williamson

Author notes

  1. Drew facilitated data collection aboard the fishing vessels.

    Authors
    1. Scott D. Kraus
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    2. Andrew J. Read
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    3. Andrew Solow
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    4. Ken Baldwin
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    5. Trevor Spradlin
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    6. Eric Anderson
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    7. John Williamson
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    Kraus, S., Read, A., Solow, A. et al. Acoustic alarms reduce porpoise mortality. Nature 388, 525 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/41451

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