Marine Beacon operates through 9 Work Packages (WP).
WP1 - Project Management, Coordination & Reporting
Led by the Marine Institute, the team will ensure effective and efficient management of the Marine Beacon project.
WP2 - Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication activities
Led by ERINN Innovation, WP2 aims to maximise the transformative impact of Marine Beacon among a wide range of target audiences via extensive dissemination, communication, knowledge exchange and exploitation of outcomes. The partners will:
- Foster high-level engagement, sustainable links, and knowledge exchange with stakeholders and targeted end users to increase awareness around the intersection of at-risk species and fishing practices.
- Increase national and regional policy makers’ understanding of the current and future challenges and risks around bycatch, and the potential mitigation and reduction measures that could address these issues.
- Increase cooperation between researchers, policy makers and fishers through the effective targeted transfer of key exploitable results, designed to encourage buy-in from key stakeholders and deliver positive, measurable impacts.
WP3 - Identifying and overcoming bycatch related knowledge gaps
Led by MFRI, WP3 will improve our understanding on the abundance, distribution and bycatch occurrence of PETS being caught as bycatch across all case study regions. Output from WP3 will inform work on bycatch risk, monitoring, mitigation measures, and co-creation of bycatch solutions and their dissemination to stakeholders. The partners will:
- Identify gaps in our knowledge base and provide an overview of the state of play of current bycatch monitoring and understanding.
- Improve our species distribution knowledge through consolidation of new and currently available data sources and the use of advanced spatio-temporal statistical modelling techniques.
- Develop new and improved bycatch estimates (including total extent of bycatch and bycatch rates) for species for which data is available for all case study regions in a variety of fisheries, while examining the main fishery operational drivers of bycatch.
- Develop a best practice guide for bycatch monitoring of PETS to aid a coordinated approach for fishing nations in Europe.
WP4 - Evaluation of Risk of fisheries bycatch and Vulnerability of PETS
Joint led by AZTI and CSIC-IEO, WP4 evaluates the risk of fisheries bycatch and its impact on the vulnerability status of PETS to assist the co-design, test and implementation of spatial bycatch mitigation measures. Those measures aim to avoid bycatch of PETS while accounting for the sustainability of the fisheries. The partners will:
- Develop multispecies integrated habitat maps to allow identifying the trade-offs between areas for the protection of PETS and target species fishing opportunities.
- Develop spatially and temporally explicit bycatch risk maps based on the overlaps between PETS and fishing effort within a risk assessment framework.
- Determine the vulnerability status of PETS based on quantitative fishery reference points.
- Test the robustness of the risk assessment methods and ensure the outputs produced are validated with fisher’s knowledge and alternative datasets.
WP5 - Next generation monitoring of PETS bycatch through AI and molecular approaches
Led by IFREMER, WP5 aims to develop new means of monitoring PETS bycatch during and following fishing operations through innovative molecular and computer vision coupled with AI methods. The partners will:
- Develop AI-based methods with the aim at approaching real-time monitoring.
- Develop molecular methods to provide robust detection of PETS, even on rare species.
- Develop best-practice guidelines for monitoring PETS.
WP6 - Mitigation strategies to reduce bycatch of PETS and improve their post-release survival
Led by DTU, WP6 aims to develop actionable plans for reducing bycatch and improving post-release survival based on inputs from the other WPs. The partners will:
- Develop and test mitigation strategies to reduce the encounter between PETS and fisheries by adopting spatiotemporal closures.
- Develop and test technologies to prevent the contact and/or interaction with the fishing gear once encountered.
- Develop and test technologies that allow for the safe release of PETS after contact with the gear and before they are brought on board the vessel.
- Establish best practices for handling and release of PETS that are brought on board the vessel to ensure post capture survival.
WP7 - Integrative assessment and quantification of the effectiveness of bycatch mitigation measures
Led by ATU, WP7 will carry out an integrative assessment of mitigation measures, from an environmental and economic perspective, and to develop tools to support management and policy makers. The partners will:
- Develop best practices and evaluate bycatch mitigation measures.
- Conduct a cost-benefit analysis for PETS bycatch mitigation measures and a policy, operational feasibility and economic analysis for implementing management measures from other jurisdictions.
- Undertake an ecosystem services evaluation of mitigation measures.
- Develop a bycatch mitigation prioritisation matrix for policy makers and an integrated bycatch management decision support tool.
- Develop an interactive tool for visualising project outputs and a workshop to disseminate project products, with the aim to progress MSFD assessments.
WP8 - Stakeholder consultation and co-creation
Led by La Rochelle University, WP8 will foster and oversee stakeholder participation, resulting in the co-creation of knowledge. The partners will:
- Consolidate outputs from WP4-7 and through an interactive dissemination platform and in-person events to raise awareness of project outputs.
- Pool knowledge and build mutual understanding from across stakeholder groups as how to effectively mitigate against bycatch of PETS.
- Co-produce additional knowledge regarding optimal bycatch reduction tools and techniques and encourage uptake.
- Determine how best to engage consumers with regard to the issue of bycatch so that consumer choices can also impact upon greater bycatch reduction.
WP9 – Ethics requirements
Led by the Marine Institute, WP9 will ensure all project activities are in compliance with established ethics requirements.