The Banana Pinger Trial: investigation into the Fishtek Banana Pinger to reduce cetacean bycatch in an inshore set net fishery

Published source details Crosby A., Tregenza N. & Williams R. (2013) The Banana Pinger Trial: investigation into the Fishtek Banana Pinger to reduce cetacean bycatch in an inshore set net fishery. Wildlife Trusts report.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Use acoustic devices on moorings Action Link
	Use acoustic devices on fishing gear Action Link

Use acoustic devices on moorings

A controlled study in 2012–2013 at a pelagic site in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cornwall, UK (Crosby et al. 2013) reported that when an acoustic device attached to a mooring was active, harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena, short-beaked common dolphin Delphinus delphis and common bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus echolocation activity was lower than when the device was inactive. Results are not based on assessments of statistical significance. Overall, 45 porpoise clicks/h and 4.9 dolphin clicks/h were recorded within 150 m of the mooring when the acoustic device was active, compared to 73 porpoise clicks/h and 6.6 dolphin clicks/h when the device was inactive. An acoustic device (Fishtek Banana Pinger) was attached to a fixed mooring in 40 m of water. The pinger was active (emitting 300 ms sounds at random intervals of 4–12 seconds with random frequencies between 50–120 kHz) and inactive (silent) for alternating 21 h periods. An acoustic logger deployed 150 m from the mooring recorded porpoise and dolphin echolocation clicks while the acoustic device was active (total 1,547 h) and inactive (total 1,420 h) between July 2012 and April 2013.

(Summarised by: Anna Berthinussen)
Use acoustic devices on fishing gear

A controlled study in 2012–2013 of a pelagic area in the North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cornwall, UK (Crosby et al. 2013) reported that fishing nets with acoustic devices had lower echolocation activity of harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena around them than nets without acoustic devices. Results are not based on assessments of statistical significance. Overall, the number of porpoise echolocation clicks recorded was 6,321 clicks at nets with acoustic devices, compared to 34,600 clicks at nets without acoustic devices. In October 2012–March 2013, four fishing vessels (<12 m long) deployed pairs of inshore ‘tangle’ nets (22–35 cm monofilament mesh deployed flat on the seabed) with and without acoustic devices during a total of 161 days of fishing. Acoustic devices (Fishtek Banana Pingers, spaced 2 m apart) emitted 300 ms sounds at random intervals of 4–12 seconds with random frequencies between 50–120 kHz. Nets were deployed for five days at depths of 20–100 m. An acoustic logger attached to each net recorded porpoise echolocation clicks.

(Summarised by: Anna Berthinussen)