Summary
The study combined fisher questionnaires, acoustic monitoring, and participatory experiments to investigate the occurrence of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) in the gillnet fisheries of Northern Cyprus. Dolphins were present in fishing grounds throughout the year, and were detected at 28% of net sets. Net damage was six times greater when dolphins were present during sets. Use of an acoustic pinger (AQUAmark 200, 5-160kHz) was tested, but had no significant effect on dolphin presence.