Press release - University of Geneva

Has protecting marine species become a job for statisticians?

Professors Cantoni (GSEM, UNIGE), Flemming (Dalhousie University, Halifax) and Welsh (Australian National University) have devised a new way to study the factors that impact bycatch during commercial fishing expeditions. Their article will be published in the forthcoming issue of the Annals of Applied Statistics.

Fishermen have no way of separating the fish they catch when they cast their nets at sea. Protected species and fish with no market value — the hammerhead shark, for example — end up being trapped and dying for no reason. In an attempt to minimize this incidental fishing, the researchers have devised a new statistical method for predicting bycatches more accurately in the future. The technique, which is explained in full in the journal Annals of Applied Statistics, can also be applied to other research fields, including health economics, medicine and educational science.

A press release from the University of Geneva.