Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) Fishing Gear Exchange

Deadline: July 30, 2009
Right, humpback and fin whales, which are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, are occasionally injured or killed through incidental entanglement in fishing gear. Based on gear retrieved from entangled whales, interactions can occur with any component of the fishing gear, including buoy lines, groundlines, gillnet floatlines, and surface systems. Provisions of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) Fishing Gear Exchange require that permit holders using trap/pot and gillnet gear comply with requirements designed to reduce the serious injury and mortality of large whales. One such gear modification requires the use of sinking groundlines. Other risk reduction measures include adding weak links to fixed fishing gear which can assist entangled whales in breaking free after an interaction has occurred. This project will support NOAA's mission goal to protect, restore, and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through an ecosystem approach to management.