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title: "The carrot or the knout? Comparing command-and-control and incentive-based approaches to reducing seabird bycatch"
---

# The carrot or the knout? Comparing command-and-control and incentive-based approaches to reducing seabird bycatch

Charlotte Boyd ([Scripps Institution of Oceanography](https://scripps.ucsd.edu/), La Jolla, California, USA) has written a commentary in [*Animal Conservation*](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1469-1795) on a [previous publication](http://www.acap.aq/en/news/latest-news/1742-trawlers-trailing-bird-scaring-lines-built-for-under-us-200-can-reduce-albatross-mortality-by-more-than-95) on seabird bycatch in the journal.  She considers the best approach to mitigating seabird bycatch in commercial fisheries is one that includes incentives.

 “Vessel owners will invest in new practices or technologies if they can increase their profits by doing so. The key to minimizing seabird by-catch in all fisheries is therefore to develop management frameworks that align fishers’ incentives with by-catch reduction targets.”

 With thanks to Barry Baker for information.

 ![](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/B/Black_browed/black-browed_albatross_trawler1_graham_parker.jpg)  
At risk: Black-browed Albatrosses gather behind a South Atlantic trawler

 Photograph by Graham Parker

 **References:**

 Boyd, C. 2014.  Minimizing seabird by-catch in industrial fisheries.  [*Animal Conservation* doi:10.1111/acv.12179](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acv.12179/pdf).

 Maree, B.A., Wanless, R.M., Fairweather, T.P., Sullivan, B.J. & Yates, O. 2014.  Significant reductions in mortality of threatened seabirds in a South African trawl fishery.  [*Animal Conservation* doi:10.1111/acv.12126](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acv.12126/abstract).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 21 December 2014*