Newsletter / Blog
2012-04-26 Great News – Conservation of Albatrosses
Fremantle,
26 April 2012: The Indian Ocean Tuna
Commission (IOTC) today agreed to measures that, if appropriately implemented
by tuna longline fishing vessels, will result in significant reductions in
albatross mortality.
The Indian Ocean is home to globally important populations of
eight albatross species, including the Critically Endangered Amsterdam
Albatross. Each year hundreds of thousands of seabirds are killed
unintentionally during the course of longline fishing. This is the primary
reason behind the fact that 17 of the world’s 22 species of albatrosses are
threatened with extinction. Tuna longliners usually deploy several thousand
hooks, attached by branchlines to a main line that can be >100 km long.
Seabirds, especially albatrosses, are vulnerable to becoming hooked when they
take the bait, and are drowned as the line sinks to setting depth (known as
‘bycatch’). Although an understanding of the scale and nature of this threat
has been known for a long time, the development of measures to reduce bycatch
has been slow. BirdLife International and researchers in Australia, the USA
and UK
have been particularly active in devising and testing technologies and fishing
practices to reduce bycatch.
In
November last year, the tuna commission for the Atlantic (ICCAT) agreed to a
strong set of measures (that are based on scientific evidence) that fishing
vessels must deploy when working in areas where albatrosses occur. BirdLife has
worked hard since then to pave the way for the IOTC to harmonise its seabird
conservation measure with that of ICCAT. From now on, all longline
vessels will be required to use two seabird bycatch mitigation measures from a
choice of bird streamer (tori lines) which scare birds away from the hooks,
adding weights to the hooks to make them sink more quickly, or setting hooks at
night when most birds are less active.
Concerns
of fishermen centre around the addition of weights to lines, which ensures that
they sink out of the reach of seabirds rapidly. Large sharks or fish can place
such strain on lines when being hauled onboard that the line snaps. When this
occurs, lead weights attached to the line can fly back towards the hauling
station and pose a significant safety threat. BirdLife has developed a new type
of lead sinker that slides off the line when it snaps, thereby eliminating the
safety risk.
After
long deliberations, stretching across five days of the Commission meeting,
agreement was finally reached for the new measure. Dr Ross Wanless, Seabird
Division manager at BirdLife South Africa,
represented BirdLife International at the meeting. “The fact that none of the
nations challenged the effectiveness of the measures proposed, and that none
insisted that measures which do not have scientific support be included in the
proposed measure, represents massive progress in itself. The willingness by all
to find a way forward was encouraging.” said Dr Wanless.
The
delegation from Japan
offered US$20,000 to support training workshops for fishing skippers to ensure
safe and appropriate use of line weighting measures. BirdLife International and
the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation will work with Japan and other
nations to secure additional funding and provide the training.
For further
information, please contact: Dr Cleo Small, cleo.small@rspb.org.uk, +44 1767
693586 |