Bycatch Mitigation Requires Livelihood Solutions, Not Just Fishing Bans: A Case Study of the Trammel-Net Fishery in the Northern Beibu Gulf, China

Fishery bycatch is an acute threat endangering survival of coastal delphinids. While mitigation measures aim at restricting fishing activities by spatial, temporal and gear management, these measures undoubtedly decrease fishery production and trigger conservation-livelihood conflicts, particularly in artisanal fisheries associating with ‘poverty traps’. This study surveyed spatio-temporal activities of trammel-net fisheries and fishers’ education-household livelihood background in a rural fishing village in the northern Beibu Gulf, China to investigate dolphin-fishing interactions and the willingness of fishers to exit fishing and their ability to engage in alternative livelihoods with regard to fishers’ household livelihood baselines. Within the survey region, overlap between humpback dolphins and trammel-net fishing was high (at least 43.35%). Spatial closures through MPAs would help reduce 46.9% of trammel-net fishing. While labor force aging and low education levels were observed in fishing, farming and casual labor livelihoods, fishers showed an unwillingness to exit fishing and inability to engage in alternative livelihoods. The suspended MPA plan should be enacted immediately to reduce fishing-gear entanglements. Implementation of a permanent trammel-net ban or ‘exit-fishing’ policy, however, should address the household livelihood consequences to fishers. Though ecotourism is often recommended to fishers as an alternative livelihood, low education level hinders fishers’ ability to engage in dolphin-watching tourism in a sustainable manner. Fishing-gear modification, an ad hoc training program focusing on sustainable ecotourism, motivating and mobilizing local people in MPA monitoring and management, and integration of traditional ecological knowledge into livelihood diversification programs are critical components to deal with the complexity of this issue.