Some consideration about the management and economic aspect on the pinger use for mitigation the depredation phenomena in an MPA Mediterranean area.

This study was carried out in a fishing area off the coast of southern Italy, where Tursiops truncatus is frequently observed to interact with bottom gill nets. The experiments aimed to assess the economic efficiency of the DDD pingers during the interaction between dolphins and monofilament bottom gill nets. A net was equipped with pingers and another without to measure the different biomass catch and costs. The economic effectiveness with an estimate of the costs/benefits was evaluated. We modeled a catch per unit effort (CPUE) both in economic terms as euros per 50 m of net set and in biomass terms as kilograms caught per 50 m of net set with and without pingers. The analysis of the data allowed us to evaluate the advantage of the economic aid provided by the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) for the use of pinger. The CPUE of the net equipped with pingers was statistically higher than the control net. The costs of investment for pingers could fully comeback in 74 days and with the economic assistance of E...