Depredation is defined as the damage or removal of fish from fishing gear by predators and raises concerns about the conservation of marine protected species involved, fisheries yield and profitability, and stock assessment of target species. There is an obvious lack of knowledge about depredation impacting pelagic longline fisheries, especially in the southwest Indian Ocean.
Depredation belongs to negative interactions between large marine megafauna and fisheries and is defined as the damage or removal of fish or bait from the fishing gear by predators, such as toothed whales, sharks, birds or squids. Those interactions lead to several negative impacts affecting the species involved (bycatch, shift in their feeding habits and
