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January 24, 2007
Don't can albatross populations
As representatives from the five commissions controlling global tuna fishing meet for the first time to discuss the future of tuna stocks, the RSPB and BirdLife International have warned that the outlook for most of the world's albatrosses also rest with these bodies.
Dr Cleo Small, of BirdLife International, is attending this week's meeting in Kobe, Japan. She said: "Nineteen of the world's 21 species of albatross are threatened with extinction and bycatch from longline fisheries, including those for tuna and swordfish, is the principal threat. Coordinated action by the tuna commissions is critical to the survival of many albatrosses, as well as other vulnerable species including turtles, sharks and, of course, tuna and swordfish stocks.
Black-browed Albatross, copyright Steve Huggins
"Failure by the tuna commissions to resolve overfishing and bycatch issues will not only leave tuna 'canned', but many other species, including albatrosses, will be 'canned' too."
Seabird bycatch is a solvable problem. Bycatch can be reduced dramatically by using a combination of simple techniques such as streamer lines towed behind a vessel, setting lines at night when birds are less active, or adding weights to lines so they rapidly sink beyond the reach of foraging birds.
Dr Cleo Small added: "By acting together to address bycatch issues, the tuna commissions can share knowledge and spread the cost of development of these bycatch mitigation measures."
The first meeting of the world’s five tuna commissions will seek ways to reduce the over-fishing and illegal fishing that threatens many valuable tuna and swordfish stocks around the world.
BirdLife International hopes that this meeting will develop systems for sharing knowledge and research on measures to reduce bycatch, and establish global systems for monitoring data on catch of target and non-target species through on-board observer programmes.
In 2000 BirdLife International launched the Save the Albatross campaign to ensure the survival of albatrosses threatened with global extinction because of longline fishing.
As part of the campaign, the RSPB and BirdLife are running the Albatross Task Force, a practical project to reduce the number of seabirds killed on longline hooks. Specially-trained task force members are working as sea helping fishermen to adopt simple and proven measures, such as flying streamer lines adjacent to the longlines to prevent birds becoming accidentally hooked.
For further information on the campaign visit www.savethealbatross.net
Posted by Surfbirds at January 24, 2007 10:49 PM
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