Fishers aim to optimise cost–benefit ratios of their behaviour when exploiting resources. Avoidance of interactions with marine predators (i.e. their feeding on catches in fishing gear, known as depredation) has recently become an important component of their decisions. How fishers minimise these interactions whilst maximising fishing success is poorly understood. This issue is addressed in a sub-Antarctic, long-line fishery confronted with extensive depredation by sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus and killer whales Orcinus orca by examining a 15-year data set. Whereas a broad range of behaviours was identified from spatio-temporal and operational descriptors, none combined high fishing success with low frequency of interactions. With experience, fishers favoured exploitation of productive patches with high frequencies of interactions over avoidance behaviours. Such decisions, although potentially optimal in the short term, are likely to intensify pressures on fish stocks and impact depredating whales. Therefore, the present study provides additional evidence to inform management decisions pertaining to the coexistence between fisheries and marine predators.

中文翻译：

---

面临海洋捕食者掠夺时决策过程中的捕鱼行为和渔民效应

渔民在开发资源时旨在优化其行为的成本效益比。避免与海洋捕食者互动（即它们以渔具中的渔获为食，称为掠食）最近已成为他们决策的重要组成部分。渔民如何最大限度地减少这些相互作用，同时最大限度地提高捕鱼成功率，人们知之甚少。这个问题在一个亚南极延绳钓渔业中得到解决，该渔业面临抹香鲸Physeter macrocephalu s 和虎鲸Orcinus orca 的广泛掠夺通过检查 15 年的数据集。虽然从时空和操作描述符中确定了广泛的行为，但没有一个将高捕鱼成功率与低频率交互结合起来。根据经验，与回避行为相比，渔民更喜欢利用互动频率高的生产性斑块。这些决定虽然在短期内可能是最佳的，但可能会加剧对鱼类种群的压力并影响捕食鲸鱼。因此，本研究提供了额外的证据，为有关渔业和海洋捕食者之间共存的管理决策提供信息。