Ukraine: Reducing Harbor Porpoise Bycatch in the Black Sea

Project Profile

Total project need: $119,000

Local Project Leader: Norman L. Holy

Project Sponsor: The Tech Museum Awards

Theme: Environment

Donation Options:
$5000 - The first step to providing fishermen with dolphin/porpoise-safe nets.
$10,000 - Will potentially save hundreds of porpoise.
$119,000 - Study of 10 boats fishing through one turbot fishing season.
Other Amount? Send a check to: Sustainable Travel International, 2885 May Street, Hood River, OR 97031

Project Needs and Beneficiaries

Caught in nets: WWF report identifies dolphins, porpoises most in need of urgent action" - 9 June, 2005. Nine dolphin and porpoise populations around the world need immediate action if they are to survive the threat of entanglement in fishing gear. They include harbour porpoises in the Black Sea, where thousands of porpoises are killed each year. Worldwide, fishing gear kills more than 300,000 dolphins and porpoises every year.

Activities

1) Scientists from the Ukraine will help organize the fishermen. 2) The test would go one season. 3) Recommendations about replacing current nets would be made to all countries fishing in the Black Sea.

Potential Long Term Impact

The objective is to reduce negative human impact upon the environment. This will benefit the fishermen in the sense that their fishery will not be shut down. Success in the Black Sea should spill over to the Mediterranean.

Project Message

"My nets represent the only known solution to dolphin and porpoise capture that are affordable to fishermen in developing countries." - Norman Holy, President, Better Gear, LLC

Organization - Better Gear, LLC

Mission

Our focus is to mitigate or eliminate problems created by human activity in the oceans.

Programs

Developed degradable gillnets, acoustically reflective gillnets, weak rope for floatline on gillnets, glowing rope, sinking groundline, and stiff/flexible rope.

Team Bios

Dr. Norman L. Holy - President, Better Gear, LLC: Professor of Chemistry at Western Kentucky University, Research Fellow at Rohm and Haas, President, Better Gear, and Research Associate at New England Aquarium

Alexei Birkun, Jr. - Deputy Director, Brema Laboratory: Wrote a report entitled, "Interactions between Cetaceans and Fisheries in the Black Sea," for ACCOBAMS and another related summary.

Statistics

Founded in 1995
Employees: 14
Volunteers: 0

Contact

Norman L. Holy,
President, Better Gear, LLC
2223 Stackhouse Dr.
Yardley, PA 19067
United States
Phone 215-369-9393
Email nholy@lycos.com
Web www.atlanticgillnet.com

CONTACT US!

SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL
2060 FLORAL DRIVE
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PHONE: 800-276-7764

info@SustainableTravelInternational.org

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