BirdLife International’s Marine Programme along with financial support from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation has produced a seven and a half minute instructional video directed at longline fishers.  BirdLife reports:

 “The BirdLife Marine Programme’s work to reduce seabird bycatch in high seas fisheries will be familiar to followers of our efforts to save several albatross species from extinction.  We have succeeded in encouraging all five tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs – the bodies that manage high seas fisheries) to put seabird conservation measures in place, requiring vessels to deploy bycatch mitigation on board.  Our next task is to help ensure that these measures are actively implemented on vessels and track their efficacy in reducing seabird bycatch.  To that end, and thanks to funding from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, we have developed an instructional film for the skippers and crew of longline vessels, highlighting the issue of seabird bycatch and describing the simple and effective measures that can be taken to minimise fishing impacts on seabird populations.  While this is mainly aimed at fishermen, it’s stuffed full off great albatross footage and neatly illustrates how to solve the problem of bycatch in longliners.”

The Albatross and Petrel Agreement has also worked at meetings of all the tuna RFMOs to encourage the adoption of the three best-practice mitigation measures of deployment of bird-scaring (streamer) lines, adequate line weighting and night-time setting for pelagic longline fishing (click here).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 August 2015

ACAP’s Executive Secretary, Warren Papworth, recently represented the Agreement at the 11th Regular Session of the Scientific Committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (click here).  A number of important issues relevant to seabird conservation in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) was discussed, including from the following two papers.

Working Paper WCPFC-SC11-2015/EB-WP-09 senior-authored and presented by Karen Baird of BirdLife International provided information on the distribution of five species of threatened albatrosses (Antipodean Diomedea antipodensis, Northern Royal D. sanfordi, Wandering D. exulans, Black-browed Thalassarche melanophris and White-capped T. steadi) and two species of threatened petrels (Black Procellaria parkinsoni and White-chinned P. aequinoctialis) in the WCPO.  The data provided indicate that these seven ACAP-listed species are at risk of being caught as bycatch between 25°S and 30°S, an area for which seabird bycatch mitigation measures are not currently mandatory under the WCPFC’s seabird conservation measure (CMM 2012-07).

Antipodean Albatross at sea, photograph courtesy of Albatross Encounter

Although many delegations spoke in favour of the Scientific Committee making a recommendation to the WCPFC Commission that the seabird conservation measure be amended to require the use of bycatch mitigation in this area, it was not possible to achieve a consensus view on the proposal.  Japan expressed a minority view that the information presented did not conclusively show there was a need for CMM 2012-07 to be amended to include this area.  A majority view provided by FFA (Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency) Members noted that the data provided did show there was potential for interactions of threatened seabird species with longline fisheries to occur and recommended to the Commission that it consider amending CMM 2012-07.  It is likely that the BirdLife paper will be referred to the Commission for its consideration.

Working Paper WCPFC-SC11-2015/EB-WP-10, presented by Nobuhiro Katsumata and colleagues from Japan’s National Research Institute on Far Seas Fisheries, concerns the development of seabird bycatch mitigation measures for small longline vessels in the Western North Pacific.  Currently, small longline vessels less than 24 m in length are exempt from the mandatory requirement that applies to larger vessels under CMM 2012-07 to use seabird bycatch mitigation measures in the WCPO area north of 23°N.  The exemption for small longline vessels was allowed due to concern that bycatch mitigation measures used on larger vessels may be impractical on smaller vessels.

The study examined the effectiveness of two different designs of bird-scaring lines, as well as the use of no line on seabird bycatch rates, on a small commercial longline vessel.  The results of the study indicated that all of the bird-scaring lines deployed in the experiment substantially reduced bait attack and the actual bycatch of seabirds.  A trial use of a light bird-scaring line with submerged elements resulted in the entanglement of the underwater segment with fishing gear.

ACAP’s representative noted that there has only been limited research on the effectiveness of bycatch mitigation measures on small vessels and welcomed this research.  He noted ACAP’s concern at the exemption of small vessels from the mandatory requirements of CMM 2012-07 and noted also that this research highlights that significant levels of seabird bycatch may be occurring in the area north of 23°N.  He encouraged Japan to present the results of this research to the next meeting of ACAP’s Seabird Bycatch Working Group.

Access the session’s Executive Summary report here.

References:

Baird K., Small, C., Bell, E., Walker, K., Elliot, G., Nicholls, D., Alderman, R., Scofield, P., Depp, L., Thomas, B. & Dias, M.P. 2015.  The overlap of threatened seabirds with reported bycatch areas between 25° and 30° South in the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission Area.  WCPFC-SC11-2015/ EB-WP-09.  18 pp.

Katsumata, N., Ochi, D., Matsunaga, H., Inoue, Y. & Minami, H. 2015.  At-sea experiment to develop the mitigation measures of seabirds for small longline vessels in the western North Pacific.  WCPFC-SC11-2015/ EB-WP-10.  Rev. 1.  10 pp

Warren Papworth, ACAP Executive Secretary, 29 August 2015

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) will hold the 11th meeting of its Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch (WPEB11) in Olhâo, Portugal over 7 to 11 September.

A total of six papers dealing with the issue of bycatch of seabirds will be tabled and discussed.  They are listed by title here.

Angel, A., Wanless, R.[M.] & Small, C, 2015.  A need for improved reporting on seabird bycatch in the longline fishery.  IOTC–2015–WPEB11–33.  4 pp.

Wanless, R.M. & Small, C. 2015.  New approaches for better understanding seabird bycatch. in tuna longline fisheries.  IOTC–2015–WPEB11–34.  2 pp.

ACAP Secretariat 2015.  ACAP summary advice for reducing the impact of pelagic longline fishing on seabirds.  IOTC–2015–WPEB11–35.  4 pp.

Wolfaardt, A. & Debski, I. 2015.  Estimation of seabird bycatch rates and numbers.  IOTC–2015–WPEB11–36.  4 pp.

Inoue, Y., Yokawa, K. & Minami, H. 2015.  Preliminary analyses; evaluation of the effects of the newly employed seabird bycatch regulation for longline fisheries in IOTC conventional area with using current observer data .  IOTC–2015–WPEB11–37.  10 pp.

Inoue, Y., Alderman, R., Taguchi, M., Sakuma, K., Kitamura, T., Phillips, R.A., Burg, T.M., Small, C., Sato, M., Papworth, W. & Minami, H. 2015.  Progress of the development of the DNA identification for the southern albatross bycatch in longline fishery.  IOTC–2015–WPEB11–38.  21 pp.

The Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross occurs within the IOTC region, photograph by Peter Ryan

ACAP will be represented at the meeting by Anton Wolfaardt, Convenor of the ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group, who will present the two ACAP papers.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 August 2015

The ACAP Seabird Bycatch Identification Guide is primarily intended for use at sea by fisheries observers to assist in the identification of albatrosses and some commonly caught petrels and shearwaters brought aboard after being killed in longline operations.  Where possible, species identification is based on those characteristics that are most likely to be preserved in dead birds that may have been underwater for long periods of time.  In most cases, these are primarily bill size and colour.  Because dead birds may look quite different to live birds, where possible, the photos included in the ID guide are of dead birds.  In some cases it will not be possible to identify a bird to a single species, but it should be possible in most cases to narrow the identification down to two or three possibilities.  For species with a restricted range, distribution maps have been added to eliminate them from the possible options.

The guide covers 37 procellariiform species, including 30 of the 31 listed within the Agreement.  The ACAP-listed Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus is not currently covered.  French, Spanish (both ACAP official languages) and Mandarin versions will be available next month, and Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Chinese Taipei versions are expected to become available in October.  The ACAP Secretariat can be contacted for commercial print-quality files, in any of these languages, to print for users’ local needs.

Text, map and identification photographs for Buller's Albatross Thalassarche bulleri from the guide

The Seabird Bycatch Identification Guide has been printed on glossy water-resistant card with a ring binding that allows it to lie flat, although individual users are encouraged to print and use it in the format that best suits their needs.  It has been produced and published (under a Creative Commons license) in collaboration with Japan’s National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries.  It is planned to produce an interactive, electronic version that could be used on mobile devices.

The principal authors of the guide are Nadeena Beck, Yukiko Inoue and Hiroshi Minami.  ACAP gratefully acknowledges Richard Phillips, Ross Wanless and Karen Baird for their helpful suggestions on the original draft and also thanks Hiroshi Hasegawa, Hadoram Shirihai, James Lloyd, Aleks Terauds, Ron LeValley, Barry Baker, Ross Wanless, Andrea Angel, Roger Kirkwood, Scott Shaffer, John Cooper, Tony Palliser, Graham Robertson, Brook Whylie, Tui de Roy, David Thompson, Drew Lee, Flavio Quintana, Marienne de Villiers, Ben Phalan, the Department of Conservation, New Zealand, Mike Double and Peter Hodum for their photographs.

Reference:

ACAP Secretariat & National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries 2015.  Seabird Bycatch Identification Guide, updated August 2015.  Hobart: ACAP Secretariat.  100 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 August 2015