Summary
Threatened common bycatch species in the Baltic Sea and North Sea include harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), common eider (Somateria mollissima) and velvet scoter (Melanitta fusca), as well as the non-threatened grey seal (Halichoerus gryphus) and harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). Interactions primarily occur in static net gear, such as gillnets and trammel nets, mainly used by coastal small-scale fisheries. Although technical bycatch mitigation methods are available for most fishing gears interacting with cetaceans and seals, measures focused on mitigating seabird interactions with gillnets are limited.