Friday, 20 October 2017 3:44AM
More than 80 sea birds have
washed up dead on Albany beaches, according to the Conservation Council of WA.
The flesh-footed shearwaters were
found washed up dead on Goode and Fisheries Beech on the western side of King
George Sound, south of Albany.
Conservation Council of WA Nic
Dunlop said the kills may be caused by purse-seine fishing.
“The timing of this Shearwater
kill is unusually early, but in every other respect fitted the now familiar
pattern of these seabirds being drowned in the purse-seine nets used by the
Albany-based South Coast Purse-seine Fishery,” Dr Dunlop said.
“The Flesh-footed Shearwater is a
species that has recently shown a dramatic decline in all three of its
populations. The species is known to be particularly susceptible as bycatch in
a variety of commercial fisheries, to the ingestion of plastics, and to changes
in marine climate.
Losing another eighty adult
shearwaters from the local breeding population - in addition to around seventy
earlier in the year - is a serious conservation issue.
“CCWA has attempted to work
cooperatively with the Department of Fisheries to eliminate this problem from
the fishery for more than a decade. There was an early reduction in bycatch from
thousands to hundreds of individuals but no further progress since then.”
But WA Fishing Industry Council
CEO John Harrison has denied that activities by the Albany-based South Coast
Purse-seine Fishery are connected to the bird's deaths.
"The recent loss of
shearwaters in the Albany region is concerning but WAFIC (based on advice from
fishers) does not believe it is linked to purse seine fishing," Mr
Harrison says.
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