Indian Ocean Longliners Must Now Protect Endangered Seabirds

All 22 species of albatross are birds of conservation concern and 19 species are facing global extinction. Globally, albatrosses are estimated to be dying at the rate of one every five minutes.

Most of these seabird deaths are not intentional, they are considered the catch of non-target species, or bycatch, in the longline fishing industry.

Wandering albatross hooked by a longliner (Photo courtesy New Zealand Dept of Conservation)

Surface longlines are suspended about 200 meters beneath the surface and are used to catch tuna and swordfish. Each longline might exceed 100 kilometers (60 miles) in length and carry 3,000 baited hooks. When longlines are paid out from vessels, seabirds attack the baited hooks, get caught or entangled in gear, are drawn underwater and drown.

In Muscat, the seabird proposal was led by Australia and the European Community, and got support from Japan and Korea during the five day meeting at the Shangri-La's Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa, which concluded Wednesday.

Under the newly adopted regulation, all longline vessels fishing for tuna and swordfish in the southern Indian Ocean, south of 30°S, will be required to use a combination of at least two measures to reduce seabird bycatch.

The fisheries are given flexibility to choose which two measures from this list are most suitable to their fishery. The meeting agreed technical specifications for use of these measures.

Fishing vessel operators can choose to set their hooks at night with minimum deck lighting when birds are less active.

They can choose to use a bird streamer, or tori, line to keep birds away from the hooks, add weight to lines to make them sink more quickly out of reach of the albatrosses, and dye bait blue to make it less visible.

Species that will benefit from use of these measures include the Critically Endangered Amsterdam albatross, Diomedea amsterdamensis. Only 17 pairs of this species still exist.

A pair of wandering albatross (Photo courtesy Australian Dept. of Environment)

The measures will also increase the chances for survival of the shy albatross, Thalassarche cauta, from Australia, and also of the wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans. The declines of wandering albatross are among the steepest in the world.

The black-browed albatross, Thalassarche melanophrys, from the UK Overseas Territory of South Georgia, which visit the rich Indian Ocean feeding grounds off South Africa in the non-breeding season, will also benefit from the new regulations.

Representatives from BirdLife International and from the international treaty, the Agreement for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, were present at the meeting as observers and were able to provide input and advice.

"This measure is a highly positive step for the conservation of these very vulnerable species," said Dr. Cleo Small of the BirdLife Global Seabird Programme, who has been working with the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission on this issue since 2005.

"The measure isn't perfect, and will need improvement as more data become available," she said. "In addition, to be effective, systems will need to be set up to monitor and enforce the measure. However, these future needs were recognized by parties, and the measure is a great achievement."

The IOTC meeting noted the important role that was played by the BirdLife International albatross and petrel tracking database, which has assembled data from remote satellite-tracking and other methods around the world to highlight the areas in which seabirds are at risk of being killed by fisheries.

Seabird bycatch data from South Africa have been instrumental in highlighting the problem occurring in the Indian Ocean tuna and swordfish fisheries, and BirdLife International's Albatross Task Force is playing a key role in this.

The Albatross Task Force is the world's first international team of experts advising fishermen at sea and on shore about ways to minimize seabird deaths by making fishing techniques more albatross friendly.

Dr. Ben Sullivan, coordinator of the Global Seabird Programme, said, "Operating in some of the harshest seas in the world, the Albatross Task Force has made outstanding first steps towards its goal of reducing seabird bycatch and stemming the decline of albatross populations."

Of the world's five tuna commissions, four now have requirements for use of seabird bycatch mitigation measures. The fifth, the tuna commission in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, will consider a seabird measure at its meeting June 23-27 in Panama City.

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