Skippers Guidebooks, for purse seine and longline crews, are available at our Guidebooks site in Web page or downloadable PDF format. They include information on sustainability, bycatch, and fisheries management.

• The Web page versions of the longline and purse seine guidebooks are in English.
• PDF versions of our longline and purse seine guidebooks are available in Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, English, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. We also offer some as ePubs.

We also have a pole-and-line skippers guidebook in English and PDF format. The guidebook is a joint publication of ISSF and the International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF).

At the end of each purse-seine and longline guidebook, there are links to “feedback forms” in the same languages as the guidebooks. Fishers should fill out the form after they have finished reading a guidebook. There is no feedback form or certification related to the ISSF/IPNLF pole-and-line guidebook.

Follow these steps to gain certification for completing a guidebook:

• Find the guidebook that applies to you, either purse seine or longline.
• Choose the format that’s convenient for you:
  • Web page version of the guidebook OR
  • PDF version of the guidebook
• Read the entire guidebook.
• At the end of the guidebook, look for the “feedback form” link.
• Click the link, fill in the form, and then submit the form.

Skippers and others who cannot attend ISSF workshops in person can watch Skippers Workshop videos on the ISSF YouTube channel. The workshop videos are for purse-seine crew.

At the end of each video, there is a Web address for a “feedback form.” Go to that Web page to complete and submit the form to gain certification.

Workshop videos are in English, with Chinese subtitles, Korean subtitles, and Spanish subtitles available.

Our latest guide shows fishers step by step how to build what we believe is the most sustainable FAD type to date: the jelly-FAD.

To prevent marine pollution and the bycatch of sharks and other vulnerable marine species, jelly-FADs are made with biodegradable materials, and they do not have netting.

To make jelly-FADs, fishers do not need to have unusual materials, special equipment, or advanced carpentry skills.

Our 2019 edition of this guide for fishers and others included detailed guidance on constructing fish aggregating devices (FADs) that are biodegradable as well as non-entangling. The Non-Entangling and Biodegradable FADs Guide can be downloaded in several languages.

These bycatch mitigation posters, courtesy of ISSF Seafood Sustainability Contest Grand Prize Winner Melissa Cronin, are designed to help fishers identify ray species and follow recommended handing techniques. 

• Atlantic Ocean
  • English
  • French
• Eastern Pacific Ocean
  • English
  • Korean
  • Spanish
  • Taiwanese
• Western & Central Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean
  • Bahasa/Malay
  • Chinese
  • English
  • Tagalog
  • Taiwanese

The Skippers Workshop team has developed posters for purse-seine fishers to illustrate “best practices” for handling and releasing sharks, manta rays, and sea turtles that are incidentally caught. The posters are based on the best practices for bycatch-handling guidebook produced by Poisson et al. 2012.

• • Chinese
  • English
  • French
  • Indonesian
  • Korean
  • Spanish 
  • Vietnamese

ISSF has created infographics showing best-practice techniques for handling and releasing incidentally caught sharks in purse-seine fisheries.

• Improving Silky Shark Survival
• Protecting Sharks: Reducing Shark Bycatch in Purse Seine Fisheries

ISSF has created infographics showing best-practice techniques for handling incidentally caught turtles in longline fisheries. Download the infographics as PDFs:

• Saving Sea Turtles Starts with You
• Salvar Tortugas Empieza por Mi

ISSF’s YouTube site has videos for longline fishers on the best handling practices and hook removal techniques for sea turtles and seabirds, which can be incidentally caught in their fisheries.

The video on sea turtle handling and hook removal is available in these languages:

• Chinese subtitles
• English
• Korean subtitles
• Indonesian narration and subtitles
• Indonesian subtitles
• Portuguese subtitles
• Spanish subtitles

For seabirds, we have a video in English on seabird bycatch. With BirdLife International, ISSF co-sponsored a video on seabird bycatch mitigation in longline fisheries, available in several languages.