Ghost Gears in the Gulf of Gabès: Alarming Situation and Sustainable Solution Perspectives

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper investigates the prevalence, causes, and spatial distribution of Abandoned, Lost, or Discarded Fishing Gears (ALDFGs) in the Gulf of Gabès, a critical fishing area in Tunisia.The loss rates of different fishing gear are calculated by constructing linear regression equation, and the importance of addressing the threat of fishing gear loss to Marine biodiversity and ecosystem health was emphasized.

In my opinion, the manuscript is well-organized and clearly stated, and the results obtained are innovative and applicable. However, this work has some weaknesses, in my opinion, that require a minor revision.

1.In the“Method of surveys and data analysis”section , the period from September to November of the questionnaire is selected, and whether the influence of fishing season factors on the loss of fishing gear is considered, it is suggested to investigate and revise the sampling time interval.

2.In the“Estimation of the number of ALDFGs in the Gulf of Gabès”section, the definition and introduction of variance inflation factor and significance test in multiple linear regression should be explained in advance in the chapter of methods, and it is suggested to add relevant content.

3.In the“Estimation of the number of ALDFGs in the Gulf of Gabès”section, all formulas should be sorted out and numbered, and physical quantities with different meanings should be distinguished by different letters. The calculation results are many, and it is recommended to present them in table form.

4.In the“Spatial distribution of ALDFGs in the Gulf of Gabès”section, the exact GPS location of sunken ships and abandoned fishing gear cannot be obtained through questionnaires. Please explain how to obtain such location information.

5.In the“Spatial distribution of ALDFGs in the Gulf of Gabès”section, the loss quantity of different kinds of fishing gear was calculated through the multivariate linear regression analysis above, but the distribution map drawn did not reflect the types of fishing gear. It is suggested to add classification to supplement the distribution map.

6.In the“Conclusions”section,there is too much description of the research content and insufficient analysis of the research results. It is suggested to condense and supplement the research results.

In short, I think that authors should improve the above issues and this manuscript is recommended for publication by addressing the above minor revisions.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

It is ok.

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Thank you very much for your feedback and comments on our manuscript Ghost Gears in the Gulf of Gabès: Alarming situation and sustainable solution perspectives. Please find our responses (in red italics) to the comments in a point-by-point manner below. Changes to the manuscript are shown in yellow highlight.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript under review, despite the "sustainable solution perspectives" declared in the title, in fact, contains no materials either on this issue or on assessing the negative impact of lost fishing gear on natural ecosystems. It is devoted solely to an attempt to determine the size (number) of lost fishing gear in different areas of Gulf of Gabes, Tunisia, using inaccurate data collection methods (personal interviews with fishermen). Also based on the results of the questionnaires, the causes of the losses were estimated, which is highly questionable. The applied modern statistical analysis packages lose all sense in connection with knowingly inaccurate subjective initial data and do not add any objectivity to the study itself. Practically all conclusions and recommendations of this study could have been written without conducting this research, they follow simply from logical reasoning. The manuscript is of no interest either to the general public or to decision-makers, as the objectivity of the conclusions and recommendations is highly questionable.

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Thank you very much for your feedback and comments on our manuscript Ghost Gears in the Gulf of Gabès: Alarming situation and sustainable solution perspectives. Please find our responses (in red italics) to the comments in a point-by-point manner below. Changes to the manuscript are shown in yellow highlight.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript presents a significant compilation of data relating to the problem of abandoned or lost fishing artifacts, which is characterized as a serious environmental and social problem (risk of accidents, problems with death fish anda marine mamals, among others).

 Seeking to give more breadth to the manuscript, I suggest checking whether there are articles published on the same theme in other regions (scientific information). Another suggestion would be to look for bibliographical references that describe problems related to these fishing gear (accidents, animal deaths, among others).

Another suggestion would be the possibility of including limits on the activity, given that the increase in fishing effort has been described.

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Comments on the Quality of English Language

English does not present significant problems.

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Thank you very much for your feedback and comments on our manuscript Ghost Gears in the Gulf of Gabès: Alarming situation and sustainable solution perspectives. Please find our responses (in red italics) to the comments in a point-by-point manner below. Changes to the manuscript are shown in yellow highlight.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have made some changes; on the positive side, a clearer and more detailed presentation of the survey methodology should be noted.

I also think it is positive that the authors point out that this is the first study for the region, an approximate one, and from this position it should be considered as a beginning for future more objective methods of assessing the changes for the ecological community.

This should be reflected in the article in order to understand the preliminary nature of the conclusions made.

 

Since there is no change of content in the authors' responses regarding "sustainable solution perspectives" I recommend that this part of the title be removed and only "Ghost Gears in the Gulf of Gabès: Alarming situation" be retained.

My opinion regarding the subjectivity of the raw data, as well as the lack of control of the information received from the fishermen remains the same, and this remains the same shortcoming of this article. However, taking into account that this work is the first for the region, and also that similar articles have already been published previously and this creates some possibility of comparing the results obtained, I am changing my negative point of view on the possibility of publishing this work, leaving this decision for the editors of the Special Issue.

 

Some minor changes that I consider necessary include the change to the title of the article that I indicated.

 

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you very much for your feedback and comments on our manuscript Ghost Gears in the Gulf of Gabès: Alarming situation. We are submitting a revised version of this manuscript (sustainability-2883022) in which we have incorporated the thoughtful comments made by all the reviewers and we have highlighted the importance of our results as the first study of ghost gears in the Gulf of Gabès.

We thank the reviewer to improve it we are confident that we have produced a much stronger manuscript.

Please find our responses (in red italics) to the comments in a point-by-point manner below. Changes to the manuscript are shown in yellow highlight.

We hope the revised version is now acceptable for publication and we look forward to hearing from you.

Cordially.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf