New FishME publication on bycatch during non-native fish eradication

Researchers from the FishME project document and discuss the incidental capture of native species as a signal of recovery during the eradication of non-native fish in high-mountain lakes.

This works tests the prediction that incidental captures of amphibians and semi-aquatic birds and mammals increases as the density of introduced fish declines. results support this hypothesis for all amphibian species and for semi-aquatic birds, with bycatch events consistently increasing throughout the eradication process, whereas no clear pattern was detected for mammals. This general pattern contrasts with conventional fisheries, where bycatch is expected to decline with improved management. Whereas this “Bycatch Paradox”, is encouraging as a signal of recovery, mitigating bycatch remains important, especially for threatened species.

Tiberti et al. (2026). The Bycatch Paradox: Incidental capture of native semi-aquatic vertebrates. Biological Conservation 321