A $200 device that can be fitted to trawlers has been demonstrated to reduce albatross by-catch deaths by 95% and scientists are now calling for the devices to be made mandatory. The bird scarring lines also reduce by-catch deaths of other birds by between 73% and 95% during the winter months.
A research paper published in Animal Conservation show how successful a simple bird-scaring line attached to trawlers can be to prevent birds from becoming entangled in nets and cables. The study used data collected from trawl fisheries in the South African deep-water hake trawl fishery.
In 2004, 9300 birds died in the fishery including 7,200 albatrosses. The researchers then studied the by-catch of trawlers fitted with the single deterrent of bird-scaring lines during the years 2006 – 2010. If the fitting of bird-scarring lines were mandatory the research estimated that 990 sea birds would have been killed with 83 albatrosses killed.
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