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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 106 / Friday, June 4, 2021 / Proposed Rules
or other internal body parts Andersen et al., 2008. Bottom longlines pose less of a threat to marine mammals due to their deployment on the ocean bottom, but can still result in entanglement in buoy lines or hooking as the line is either deployed or retrieved. The rate of interaction between longline fisheries and marine mammals depends on the degree of overlap between longline effort and species distribution, hook style and size, type of bait and target catch, and fishing practices such as setting/hauling during the day or at night.
The NEFSC plans to use pelagic and bottom longline gear in four programs:
The Apex Predators Bottom Longline Coastal Shark, Apex Predators Pelagic Nursery Grounds Shark, Apex Predator Pelagic Longline Shark, and Cooperative Atlantic States Shark Pupping and Nursery COASTSPAN Longline surveys. The NEFSC has no recorded marine mammal interactions during the conduct of its pelagic and bottom longline surveys in the Atlantic coast region. While the NEFSC has not historically interacted with large whales or other cetaceans in its longline gear, documentation exists that some of these species are taken in commercial longline fisheries. NEFSC uses a shorter mainline length and lower number of hooks relative to that of commercial fisheries.
GillnetsMarine mammal interactions with gillnets, through entanglement, are well-documented Reeves et al., 2013. At least 75 percent of odontocete species, 64 percent of mysticetes, 66 percent of pinnipeds, all sirenians, and marine mustelids have been recorded as gillnet bycatch over the past 20-plus years Reeves et al., 2013. Reeves et al. 2013 note that numbers of marine mammals killed in gillnets tend to be greatest for species that are widely distributed in coastal and shelf waters. Common dolphins and striped dolphins, for example, have continued to be taken in large numbers globally despite the fact that large-scale driftnet fishing on the high seas has been illegal since 1993, eliminating one source of very large bycatches of northern right whale dolphins and common dolphins Reeves et al., 2013.
Minke whales are probably especially vulnerable to gillnet entanglement for several reasons, including their nearshore and shelf occurrence, their proclivity for preying on fish species that are also targeted by net fisheries, and their small size and consequently greater difficulty compared to the larger mysticetes of extricating themselves once caught Reeves et al., 2013.

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Entanglement in fishing gear and bycatch in commercial fisheries occur with regularity in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions and are the primary known causes of mortality and serious injury for pinnipeds in these areas. Gillnets are responsible for most observed and reported bycatch for marine mammals Lewison et al., 2014;
Zollett, 2009. From 20132017, the total human caused mortality and serious injury to harbor seals is estimated to be 350 per year 338 from fisheries and 12 from non-fisheryrelated interaction stranding mortalities Hayes, Josephson et al. 2020. The average annual estimated human-caused mortality and serious injury to gray seals in the U.S. and Canada was 5,410
per year for the period 20132017 946
U.S./4,464 Canada. This average is based on: 940 from U.S. observed fisheries; 5.6 from non-fishery human interaction stranding and shooting mortalities in the U.S.; 0.8 from U.S.
research mortalities; 672 Canadian commercial harvest; 55 from the DFO
scientific collections; and 3,737
removals of nuisance animals in Canada DFO 2017, Mike Hammill pers. comm;
as cited in Hayes, Josephson et al. 2020.
Fyke Nets Fyke nets are bag-shaped nets which are held open by frames or hoops. The fyke nets used in NEFSC survey activities are constructed of successively smaller plastic coated square metal tube frames that are covered with mesh net 0.6 centimeters for small, 1.9
centimeters for large. Each net has two throats tapering to a semi-rigid opening.
The final compartment of the net is configured with a rigid framed live box 2 x 2 x 3 meters at the surface for removal of catch directly from above without having to retrieve the entire net.
Fyke nets are normally set inshore by small boat crews. It is unknown whether fyke nets have been responsible for marine mammal mortality or serious injury NMFS 2021.
In commercial fisheries, fyke nets fall into Category III on the List of Fisheries.
Although bycatch is well known and well studied in marine fisheries, there are few studies on bycatch in freshwater fisheries using fyke nets Larocque et al., 2011. Fyke nets are passive fishing gear that have limited species selectivity and are set for long durations Hubert, 1996; Larocque et al., 2011. Thus, this gear has the potential to capture nontargeted fauna that use the same habitat as targeted species, even without the use of bait Larocque et al., 2011. Mortality in fyke nets can arise from stress and injury associated with anoxia, abrasion, confinement, and starvation Larocque
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et al., 2011; however, it is unknown whether fyke nets have been responsible for marine mammal mortality or serious injury NMFS 2021.
Other Research GearAll other gears used in NEFSC fisheries research e.g., a variety of plankton nets, CTDs, ROVs do not have the expected potential for marine mammal interactions, and are not known to have been involved in any marine mammal interaction.
Specifically, these include CTDs, XBTs, CUFES, ROVs, small trawls Oozeki, IKMT, MOCNESS, and Tucker trawls, plankton nets Bongo, Pairovet, and Manta nets, and vertically deployed or towed imaging systems to be no-impact gear types.
Unlike trawl nets and longline gear, which are used in both scientific research and commercial fishing applications, these other gears are not considered similar or analogous to any commercial fishing gear and are not designed to capture any commerciallysalable species, or to collect any sort of sample in large quantities. They are not considered to have the potential to take marine mammals primarily because of their design and how they are deployed.
For example, CTDs are typically deployed in a vertical cast on a cable and have no loose lines or other entanglement hazards. A Bongo net is typically deployed on a cable, whereas neuston nets these may be plankton nets or small trawls are often deployed in the upper one meter of the water column; either net type has very small size e.g., two bongo nets of 0.5 m2 each or a neuston net of approximately 2 m2
and no trailing lines to present an entanglement risk. These other gear types are not considered further in this document.
NEFSC Gear Interactions From 2004 through 2015, NEFSC
documented ten individual marine mammals that were killed from interactions with NEFSCs gear: Six were killed due to capture in gillnets, a harbor seal suffered mortality in fyke nets, and one minke whale was caught in trawl gear and released alive. No interactions with NEFSC survey gear were observed in 2016, 2017 or 2018.
On September 24, 2019, during a Cooperative Research NTAP cruise sponsored by the NEFSC, a small common dolphin Length = 231 cm approx. 150 lbs was found dead from entanglement in fishing gear upon inspection of the catch. The gear was a 4 seam 3 bridle Bigelow trawl net with a spread restrictor cable. The take occurred during reduced visibility at night/early morning conditions, so visually scanning for marine mammals
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