About the Entanglement Gear Guide

The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) requires NMFS to monitor marine mammal bycatch in all U.S. commercial fisheries. Under this mandate, NMFS has established the List of Fisheries (LOF) that categorizes the relative level of marine mammal impacts for all U.S. commercial fisheries. A full description of commercial fisheries in AKR and the WCR and their classification on the LOF can be found at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/marine-mammal-protection-act-list-fisheries.

The Guide for Identifying Gear from Marine Mammal Entanglements in the U.S. West Coast and Alaska (Entanglement Gear Guide) is an update to the 2010 NMFS West Coast Region-based Fixed Gear Guide and describes characteristics of fishing gear that may be involved in marine mammal entanglements throughout the Eastern North Pacific Ocean. Descriptions of fishing gear and fisheries in the Entanglement Gear Guide have been influenced by the organization and naming conventions of commercial fisheries used in the LOF, but are not necessarily identical.

The Entanglement Gear Guide is designed to help stakeholders and the public improve descriptions of gear with reports of marine mammal entanglements provided to NOAA Fisheries. It also provides transparency about how NOAA Fisheries approaches gear identification along the West Coast and in Alaska.

This Portal is organized in three tabs. In addition to this About landing page, these are the Reference Sheets and Interactive Map tabs.

The Reference Sheets tab provides fishery specific information, including a seasonal diagram, interactive participation count report and a static map of the generalized range of where fishing activity may occur, for each Fishery selected (if available);

The Interactive Map tab provides access to a Map View with the functionality to display the generalized range of where fishing activity may occur based on a Fishery selected (if available).