This simple trick has saved 1000s of rare seabirds from death

Melissa Breyer 

February 6, 2019

Between 2002 and 2015, these 'streamer lines' helped reduce seabird by-catch in Alaskan fisheries by 78%..

It sounds like the most miserable of deaths. A seabird sees a buffet of bait beneath the water, and takes a dive to feast, only to get caught in a fishing boat longline and dragged underneath to drown. As Nature reports of Alaska's rare albatross and other birds who meet this awful fate, "Every year, hundreds of thousands are accidentally hooked and dragged to the depths of the ocean, where they drown.'

It's obviously a terrible thing for the birds, and it's not great for the fisherman either. WWF found that Russia’s largest longline operation was losing nearly $800,000 a year in lost bait and catch as a result of diving birds.

But there's a brilliant (and cheap) fix: Streamer lines. Like scarecrows of the sea, Smithsonian reports that the idea came from a fisherman in Japan, who found that by "flanking the end of his fishing vessel with streamer lines the birds shied away from his wake."

Nature explains that in Alaska, Ed Melvin, the Marine Fisheries Senior Scientist for Washington Sea Grant,and his colleagues used bright orange plastic tubes above the water to keep the birds away, to tremendous success. Between the years 2002 and 2015, this simple trick has helped to reduce seabird by-catch in Alaskan fisheries by a significant 78 percent.

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$200 to reduce albatross deaths by 95%

Posted by: Kevin Heath / 18 hours ago

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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Forest and Bird calls for submissions on seabird by-catch

Forest & Bird (BirdLife in New Zealand) urges people to have a say on a government plan to reduce the numbers of seabirds killed every year by the fishing industry.

The Ministry for Primary Industries and the Department of Conservation are seeking comments on the draft National Plan of Action for Seabirds. Submissions close at 5pm on November 21.

Recent estimates suggest that up to 40,000 seabirds die each year in New Zealand waters after getting caught in fishing nets or on fishing hooks.

“New Zealand seabirds really need people to make a submission on this document,” says Forest & Bird Seabird Advocate Karen Baird.

“Otherwise, there is a real chance that the final version of the plan won’t adequately safeguard our threatened albatrosses and petrels.

“The species most at risk from commercial fishing in New Zealand is the endemic black petrel, which often gets caught by fishers pursuing snapper and bluenose in the Hauraki Gulf.

“The National Plan of Action for Seabirds will shape government and fishing industry efforts to reduce New Zealand’s very high seabird by-catch problem over the next five years, so it’s imperative that we get this right,” says Karen Baird.

http://www.birdlife.org/community/2012/11/forest-bird-calls-for-submissions-on-seabird-by-catch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=forest-bird-calls-for-submissions-on-seabird-by-catch