Comparative analysis of incidental dolphin mortality, during fishing trips of the Mexican purse seine tuna fishery in the Eastern Pacific Ocean recorded by two scientific observer programs

Abstract

Scientific observer programs in fisheries are being deployed worldwide in order to obtain robust data for fishery studies, and in relation to its interaction with target and bycatch species. A comparison between two observer programs in Mexican purse seine tuna fishery in the Eastern Pacific ocean is performed considering the incidental mortality per trip as a metric recorded by both observers programs from 1999 to 2016. A Bayesian t-test approximation was used for the comparison between the two methods since, due to its probabilistic nature reduces uncertainty. The analysis showed a very low probability of differences for the estimated bycatch rate between both programs.