The Seabird-Safe Fishing Toolkit follows ACAP’s Best Practice Advice for longline tuna fisheries

Example of a Seabird Risk Zone map from the Seabird-Safe Fishing Toolkit

The Seabird-Safe Fishing Toolkit is an interactive website for longline tuna fisheries wanting to make their fishing safer for seabirds.  The toolkit provides the best available guidance on how to avoid catching seabirds and ensure good practice.  The guidance is based on ACAP’s Best Practice Advice.

The toolkit can be used to identify where threatened seabirds range, assess the current state of seabird-safe fishing and explore options to improve seabird safety over time.  This will support fisheries to meet the demands of consumers for environmentally sustainable tuna and secure access to high-value markets.

The Seabird-Safe Fishing Toolkit was launched online in November last year with eight leaders across the tuna supply chain and the world's sustainable seafood initiatives explaining in one hour and 27 minute video how they will use the toolkit to protect seabirds.  The event was presented in English with simultaneous interpretation into Chinese and Japanese.

The toolkit is a New Zealand-led project, developed through the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Oceans and Fisheries Working Group and supported by five co-sponsor economies: Chile, People’s Republic of China, Peru, Chinese Taipei and the United States.

Read an earlier article in ACAP Latest News on the development of the Seabird-Safe Fishing Toolkit.

With thanks to Igor Debski, Department of Conservation, New Zealand

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 21 January 2026