Ethical use of insect bycatch

A variety of methods that mimic visual and olfactory cues to locate food resources and mates have been employed to passively monitor insect populations. These monitoring techniques also unintentionally capture non-target insects (bycatch) due to an overlap in the recognition of these cues. Ethical, moral, and legal concerns have emerged as a result of the abundance and diversity of insects captured and killed as bycatch as well as the documented declines of beneficial insects worldwide. While bycatch is not directly associated with insect declines, it is unavoidable given the current monitoring protocols in place. Additionally, some at risk species could be impacted in areas where frequent trapping occurs. Therefore, researchers are refining insect monitoring techniques to increase target insect captures and to reduce the amount of bycatch. Additionally, researchers are using bycatch to provide insight into biological and ecological patterns and processes to advance knowledge of biodiversity, population fluctuations, and range shifts. Future steps should include collaborative efforts to establish and properly fund online databases and archives for bycatch data as this will further increase the accessibility and usability of these specimens on a national scale. While this does not fully address the ethical concerns related to insect welfare, it is a first step. As a whole, researchers need to think more critically about their moral obligations to the insects they aim to protect by integrating welfare considerations into monitoring protocols as a way to incorporate ethical frameworks into standard research practices.