The bycatch of marine megafauna by small-scale fisheries (SSF) is an urgent matter to address within the sustainable exploitation of marine resources. Marine mammals and sea turtles are particularly vulnerable to SSF and have been the focus of conservation strategies. However, such strategies have often fallen short of objectives and effectiveness. This study aimed to elucidate the associated issues by compiling global mitigation measures among SSF and identifying: (i) successful measures and their influencing factors; (ii) information/data deficits; and (iii) a coherent approach to success; (iv) while also conducting interview surveys with traditional SSF communities, to verify literature findings in-situ. Among 182 peer-reviewed articles (1994–2019) there was exponential, temporal output, and while gillnets were the most studied (60%), efforts have recently expanded to other gears. Mitigation measures gathered from successful cases (75%) were categorised and submitted to SWOT analysis. Opinions collected from the 35 interviewees showed that fishermen are unhappy with existing structures, but willing to cooperate towards elaborating better mitigation actions. Overall results showed that bottom-up management approaches are the most appropriate when implementing mitigation strategies and that community engagement is vital for effectiveness. Guidelines suggested here can be used to improve global effectiveness of future mitigation strategies.
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