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The Fishing Vessel Owners’ Association (FVOA) is a trade association of longline vessel operators in the North Pacific and based in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.. Its mission is to promote safety at sea, ensure competitive pricing, and promote habitat-friendly gear with minimum bycatch.

The FVOA has taken the voluntary action of instructing its members from this year to use bird-scaring streamer lines when fishing in Washington, Oregon and Californian waters (http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/02/fishing_vessels_agree_to_save.html.)

The action should lead to a reduction in mortality of seabirds, including of the Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes. Along the west coast of the U.S. bycatch of the Black-footed Albatross in the Sablefish longline fishery is considered the primary problem.

The Black-footed Albatross will be considered for inclusion within ACAP at the Third Session of the Meeting of Parties, to be held at the end of next month in Bergen, Norway (for the proposal by three ACAP Parties (Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom) click here and open Document 26).

Measures to prevent seabird bycatch are already required by U.S. longliners operating in Alaska, where albatross deaths have been reduced by the use of streamer lines (http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/protectedresources/seabirds.htm).

See also: http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/090212.html.

Click here for an earlier news item on ACAP producing species accounts for the three North Pacific albatrosses, including for the Black-footed.