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Illuminating the sea

Protecting Ecuador’s marine biodiversity by reducing the incidental capture of non-target species

By UNDP Planet

November 20^th, 2023

Callie Veelenturf, a marine conservation biologist, began working with fishers in Ecuador in 2019. She wanted to support marine wildlife conservation efforts and knew that artisanal fisheries were the point of first contact.

In September 2023, Callie Veelenturf spoke at a workshop of artisanal fisherfolk in Jaramijo, Ecuador. The workshop tackled good fishing practices, including handling and releasing entangled turtles. Photo: The Leatherback Project

She vividly remembers her first conversation with a local fisher during her initial visit to a fishing community in Puerto Lopez, where she sought to gain insights into the residents' views on marine biodiversity.

"According to a fisher I spoke with, sea turtles are considered pests due to their frequent entanglements in fishing nets that cause significant damage. Fixing these holes requires a considerable amount of time and energy."

- Callie Veelenturf, Founder and Executive Director of The Leatherback Project and Field Team Leader of Iluminar El Mar

An incidental travesty

Fishing is an essential source of income for at least 40 million people worldwide who earn their living directly from catching wild fish. But wherever there is fishing, there is bycatch—the incidental capture of non-target species. A staggering amount of marine life is often hauled up with the catch, and then discarded overboard dead or dying.

Sadly, unintended, excessive bycatch pushes some marine species towards extinction.

In Ecuador, dolphins, sea turtles, seabirds and sharks are among the most affected species.

Fishing vessel hauling in their catch. Photo: Nicolas Job/Ocean Image Bank

Globally, thousands of miles of nets and lines are set in the world's oceans each day. Modern fishing gear, often undetectable by sight and extremely strong, is very efficient at catching the desired fish species—as well as anything else in its path.

The Maui dolphin. The North Atlantic Right Whale. The Leatherback Sea Turtle. These are just three among the many endangered species highly at risk of excessive entanglement in fishing gear. To their ranks, an additional 100 million sharks end up dead in those unforgiving nets annually.

A world of climate action lies below

Research shows that bycatch causes damage to the ocean’s biodiversity, removing the natural prey of bigger marine mammals, contributing to population declines, and impeding the recovery of populations of threatened and endangered species of cetaceans, elasmobranchs, fish, marine turtles, and seabirds.

Ultimately, the absence of keystone marine mammals such as whales caused by bycatch leads to a more severe consequence - the weakening of the ocean's ability to absorb carbon.

Humpback whales, Reunion Island. Photo: Francois Baelen/Ocean Image Bank

Bycatch is a major concern in Ecuador due to the abundance of marine species in its waters.

In Ecuador, around 15,594 vessels fishing with gillnets record approximately 220,000 sharks as bycatch each year, based on a 2020 report. About 40,500 sea turtles are accidentally caught yearly in artisanal fishing gillnets, based on a 2018 report, amounting to almost 90% of the known sea turtle bycatch in the Southeast Pacific.

As such, the bycatch from Ecuadorian artisanal fisheries has drastic adverse effects on endangered marine wildlife.

Shark caught in fishing net. Photo: Tom Vierus / Ocean Image Bank

Proven solutions do exist, such as modifying fishing gear so that fewer non-target species are caught or can escape. In many cases, these modifications are simple and inexpensive, and often come from fishers themselves.

While Ecuador has implemented measures to address bycatch, such as the mandatory use of turtle excluder devices in trawl nets and a ban on shark and ray fishing, more effort is needed to ensure compliance with these measures and to promote more sustainable fishing practices that have minimal impact on the ecosystem.

Photo: Sergio Izquierdo/Ocean Image Bank

A budding friendship

Callie recalls her initial conversation:

"I explained to the local fisher that sea turtles, such as leatherback turtles, are keystone species. They can eat up to 2,000 pounds of jellyfish in a single day. This is significant because jellyfish eat juvenile fish and fish larvae. If we have more leatherbacks controlling the jellyfish population, we will have fewer jellyfish blooms. Having more sea turtles can help reduce the pressure on fish stocks and ultimately benefit local fishing communities and their livelihoods."

Explaining this interaction in the ecosystem made the fisher realize that, in reality, sea turtles are their best friends.

Innovative solutions are within reach

The answer lies in creatively leveraging the differences in sensory capabilities between reptiles, mammals, birds, and target bony fish species.

A group of juvenile leatherback turtles are ready for release in Trinidad. Photo: Rubberrocket/iStock.

A ray of hope

With UNDP's support, Iluminar El Mar is testing, validating available data, and creating new baselines on the effectiveness of LED BRT in artisanal longline and gillnet fisheries in Jaramijo, Ecuador. This work is helping to substantially reduce turtle and other megafauna bycatch without affecting fishers’ harvests.

Iluminar El Mar is being implemented by Mare Nostrum Foundation and the Leatherback Project, along with local partners.

The team is conducting a combination of community workshops, human-centred design and scientific trials, and engagement with a broad spectrum of stakeholders — fishers, supply chain provisioners, local and national governments, and NGOs. Through this targeted outreach, the team is promoting the adoption of viable bycatch reduction technologies and approaches in longline and gillnet fisheries.

Determined to conserve marine biodiversity and support the livelihoods of local fishing communities, the team’s aspiration is for Ecuador to become the first country in the world to adopt bycatch reduction technology and spark hope for the restoration and protection of our ocean.

The team behind Iluminar El Mar is beaming with hope for bycatch reduction and the protection of marine biodiversity and fishers’ livelihoods. Photo: The Leatherback Project.

9 projects, one shared ocean

Iluminar El Mar is one of nine ocean innovation projects selected from more than 350 concept proposals from around the globe for the second UNDP Ocean Innovation Challenge (OIC) in August 2022.

The challenge sought innovative solutions to counter the scourge of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, promote sustainable fisheries and aquaculture management, and support small-scale artisanal fishers to access marine resources and markets.

IPNLF Maldives is launching eDhumashi, an online platform created to support Maldivian women in the fishery by empowering them to showcase their products to a wider audience. Credit: IPNLF Maldives

WWF-Peru's TrazApp is an electronic catch documentation and traceability (eCDT) system that improves fisheries management and transparency in the supply chain while enhancing small-scale fishers' financial security. Credit: WWF Peru/Yawar Films

To accelerate progress on SDG14, which aims to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development, UNDP, through its Ocean Innovation Challenge (OIC) is identifying, financing, advising and mentoring truly innovative, entrepreneurial and creative approaches to coastal and ocean restoration and protection.

With funding from Sida and Norad, the OIC is actively supporting replicable and scalable approaches, and working to advance the blue economy.

Footnotes

Text by: Khristine Gudczinski, Almary Paigao, and Andrea Egan. Header photo: Artisanal fishers return to port with their catch at La Libertad in Santa Elena, Ecuador. Artisanal fisheries in Ecuador are a vital source of employment and food. Photo: Iryna Kurilovych/iStock. Header video: SafetyNet-UNDPOIC-Bycatch Pisces lights on trawl gear.

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FootNotes