World Seabird Day
Let birds soar freely on the high seas
We celebrate the fifth World Seabird Day on July 3 this year. World Seabird Day was created to raise public awareness for seabird conservation. The date was chosen because July 3, 1844, was the last recorded sighting of the now-extinct Great Auk (Pinguinis impennis).
The Great Auk was once widely distributed across islands in the North Atlantic but became extinct due to excessive hunting by humans. Source: Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels
Seabirds are a group of birds adapted to the marine environment and spend most of their lives at sea, making them a proxy indicator of the health of marine ecosystems. While it may seem seabirds are relatively unaffected by humans at sea, they are one of the most threatened vertebrate groups in the world. Data from 2012 indicated that the populations of half of the world’s 350 seabird species were declining, with three species already extinct and two others possibly extinct. Twenty-eight percent of seabird species are listed as globally-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, including five percent of critically-endangered species and 10 percent of near-threatened species.
The top threats affecting seabird survival are invasive alien predators at breeding grounds, bycatch from fisheries, and climate change. More than 170 million seabirds (20 percent of the total seabird population) are exposed to all three threats simultaneously, and more than 380 million seabirds (45 percent of the total seabird population) are exposed to at least one of these three threats. Furthermore, overfishing, plastic waste, light pollution, hunting, egg collecting, and human disturbance on breeding grounds jeopardize seabird survival.
Albatrosses are the most threatened seabirds of all. Albatrosses have long lifespans and high adult survival rates, but they reach sexual maturity late in life and have low fecundity. This means the survival rate of adult albatrosses determines their population size. In the 1980s, bycatch by pelagic longline fisheries posed a significant threat to seabirds such as albatrosses. Pelagic longline vessels operate primarily in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans—fishing for tuna, swordfish, halibut, and Patagonian toothfish. These waters are also the preferred foraging areas for seabirds such as albatrosses.
If no mitigation measures against bycatch are taken, albatrosses may soon be wiped out. Finding ways to reduce the bycatch of seabirds while ensuring the sustainability of pelagic fisheries is imperative.
An Albatross dives for food
After deciding where to fish, seafarers on board the fishing vessels lay main lines that are tens (or even hundreds) of kilometers long on the surface of the high seas. These lines have thousands of branch lines, each with dangling, baited hooks. Albatrosses and other seabirds often swoop down on the bait when they set the lines; the birds are then easily hooked and dragged into the seawater, where they drown. Tracking surveys of pelagic longline fisheries show that more than 300,000 seabirds, including some 100,000 albatrosses, are unintentionally killed each year from feeding on the bait attached to longline fishing hooks. Sixty-one seabird species are currently threatened by bycatch from pelagic longline fisheries worldwide, and 17 of the 26 endangered seabird species are albatrosses, accounting for more than 77 percent of the total number (22) of albatross species. If no mitigation measures against bycatch are taken quickly, these albatrosses may soon be wiped out, just like the Great Auk. Finding ways to reduce the bycatch of seabirds while ensuring the sustainability of pelagic fisheries is imperative.
Illustration by Emily Eng using data sourced from BirdLife International
In 1998, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization convened the Technical Working Group Meeting on Reduction of Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries in Tokyo and established the International Plan of Action for Reducing Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries in 1999 to encourage all countries concerned to implement effective measures to reduce seabird bycatch. Since then, many countries have passed regulations to force longline fisheries to adopt mitigation measures, including bird-scaring streamers, branch line weightings, night setting of bait, and dyed or disguised baits. However, each of these measures involves drawbacks. For example, bird-scaring streamers can become tangled in windy conditions or entangled with fishing gear and spirals, adding to the workload of fishermen. Line weightings can increase the danger of reeling in the lines. Night setting can be challenging to scale and offers limited protection for nocturnal seabirds. Given these issues, finding safer and more effective mitigation methods is urgent.
The encouraging news is that there is now a novel device called the Hookpod that can solve all these problems. The Hookpod is a small box made of polycarbonate that is permanently attached to the branch line holding the hooks. The hooks are first baited, then the pointy tips are covered in the Hookpod. When the Hookpod sinks to a depth of 20 meters below the surface, i.e., below seabirds’ dive limit, water pressure triggers the release system and opens the Hookpod to reveal the hook point. Commercial fisheries have adopted this device, which has proven to be the most effective method for avoiding the bycatch of seabirds during fishing line deployment.
The Hookpod Image on left by Dave Agombar ; Image on right by RSPB
In 2020, the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries included the use of the Hookpod in relevant conservation regulations as the preferred mitigation measure to avoid bycatch of seabirds. More than half of the fishing vessels in New Zealand currently use the Hookpod. According to monitoring results, since January 2020, those vessels using the Hookpod no longer experience seabird bycatch during line deployment. Furthermore, the Hookpod has not reduced the amount of target catch. On the contrary, some vessels have seen increased hauls thanks to the reduction in seabirds snatching the bait.
The Hookpod has also been widely adopted and has shown promising results in Brazil. In addition, the Hookpod has been approved by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and recommended as the best-practice, stand-alone bycatch mitigation measure by the Agreement for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.
Saving each individual bird means a great deal for these endangered species.
Of course, with these measures, raising conservation awareness among the fishermen concerning the proper implementation of mitigation methods and promptly freeing seabirds caught by mistake is incredibly important. Saving each individual bird means a great deal for these endangered species.
A nesting pair of albatrosses
Albatrosses, among other seabirds, are long-distance migratory species. Some albatrosses can circumnavigate most of the world’s four oceans. Therefore, conservation efforts require the cooperation of all countries involved in pelagic fisheries and the development of international agreements on seabird conservation to mitigate the threats of marine fisheries to seabirds and preserve these wonders of nature’s creation.
Given that a new Global Biodiversity Framework is due to be agreed upon at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal in December 2022, what better time for the global longline fishing industry to commit to bycatch mitigation measures, such as Hookpod, as a contribution to stopping and reversing biodiversity loss. Failure to act could mean that many species of albatross, the most majestic seabirds of all, are condemned to the same fate as the Great Auk and lost forever.
References:
ANDERSON, O. et al. (2011) Global seabird bycatch in longline fisheries. Endangered Species Research, 14: 91-106.
BEAL, M. et al. (2021). Global political responsibility for the conservation of albatrosses and large petrels. Science Advances, 7: eabd7225.
CROXALL, J. et al. (2012). Seabird conservation status, threats and priority actions: A global assessment. Bird Conservation International, 22: 1-34.
DIAS, M. et al. (2019) Threats to seabirds: A global assessment. Biological Conservation, 237: 525-537.
GOAD, D. et al. (2019) Hookpod-mini: a smaller potential solution to mitigate seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries. Endangered Species Research, 39: 1-8.
PETROSSIAN, G. et al. (2022) Pires SF, Sosnowski M, Venu P, Olah G. Threats of longline fishing to global albatross diversity. Animals (Basel), 12: 887.
SULLIVAN, B. et al. (2017) At-sea trialling of the Hookpod: a ‘one-stop’ mitigation solution for seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries. Animal Conservation, 21: 159-167.
Hookpod Limited. www.hookpod.com
JESSN Marine Equipment Company Limited. http://www.jessn.com/cn/productsnewsd.php?nid=40
