Whether you're a dolphin or just a sushi lover, nothing tastes better than a fresh catch from the sea. But these two species of seafood aficionados are often in lethal competition with each other, with dolphins ending up on the losing side of the equation.
A terrible situation for dolphins — being caught and killed by equipment meant to ensnare fish — is also a bad situation for the fishing vessels, since the dolphins will often damage the gear in the process of attempting to free themselves from the hooks or nets. As a result, some fishing operations are more than happy to use new tools and techniques to make the gear safer for dolphins, or to repel them from the area in the first place.
“Bycatch is a persistent problem in a lot of fisheries, but oftentimes there are technological solutions,” says David Kerstetter, a fisheries biologist at Nova Southeastern University.