Southwest Atlantic

The Southwest Atlantic Ocean region (SWA) generally encompasses the regional waters around Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina (FAO fishing area 41, but excluding the Falklands/Malvinas Islands). This area, which includes the Patagonian Shelf (considered the largest such domain in the world; Croxall and Wood 2002) and the convergence of the warm Brazil current from the north and the cold Malvinas current from the south, is characterized by high and consistent levels of primary productivity and supports robust national and international fisheries activities. Specifically, some important fisheries include trawls for hake and shrimp, squid jiggers, and longlines for Patagonian toothfish, kingclip, tuna, and swordfish. In addition to productive and persistent fisheries activity in the SWA, the region’s unique oceanographic (convergence zone) and physiographic (large continental shelf area) features also result in high biodiversity of seabird and marine mammal species, as well as sea turtles, all of which use the region for reproduction and/or foraging.

Bycatch of long-lived, air-breathing vertebrates is a significant concern in the SWA region. Particular species of concern include seabirds such as the yellow-nosed albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos), black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) and the white-chinned Petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis), marine mammals such as the Franciscana dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei), dusky dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus), the Commerson’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii), and sea turtles such as the loggerhead (Caretta caretta), green (Chelonia mydas), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea).

Bycatch research and mitigation programs are well-developed, and operate at high analytical levels in the SWA region. An assortment of organizations, ranging from academic institutions to NGOs, focusing on bycatch issues exist in this region. In addition, some observer programs for specific fisheries also exist in each country.