4.1. Hook and line
The most commonly observed fishery gear found among all species
in this study was hook and line. This is not surprising due to
the high volume of hook and line based fisheries in the study area
(U.S. Department of the Interior, 2011) and the implementation of
the Florida Net Ban Amendment2, which severely limited commercial
net fishing is state waters (see Section 4.3).
The majority of external HL cases for all species combined were
located around a flipper or on multiple locations on one animal;
insertion. Entanglements for all species occurred on appendages
which are used for navigation, propulsion, and/or maneuvering
(i.e., are in motion relative to the animal).