19 July 2023
My intention was to have this information blog for Thursday the 20th of July but, there is so much other news that I feared its importance would be overlooked by osprey news.
In its July-September 2023 journal, BirdLife International raises issues related to the Albatross. One in particular – long line tuna trawlers.
“Fishing Trawler DA.57 – Howth County Dublin (Ireland)” by infomatique is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.*
I want you to look at this image of Manaaki, the Royal Cam Chick at Taiaroa Head, New Zealand and parent, GLY, who has come in for a much anticipated feeding.
Do you watch this cam? Do you know the perils that face these sea-foraging birds? Do you want to change human behaviour to help them?
These are the facts according to a new study that looks at the risk longline fisheries pose to these beautiful sensitive and gentle albatross.
- Long Line fishing trawlers set out a main line that can extend to 100 km or 62 miles. Now just stop and take in that length.
- Each line has thousands of hooks that are baited and deadly. The bait is a meal for albatross. The jiggling of the lines in the water mimic the way that fish swim.
- The albatross that snatch the bait are snagged and dragged under the water as the hooks sink. It is estimated that 160,000 birds die this way every year. They are often decapitated in the process.
- Every day there are 5000 fishing vessels on the high seas. Of these 1000 are looking for tuna and they set these very long lines with a total of billions of hooks per year. Again try to wrap your head around that.
- Fishing activity by the Osprey takes place at dawn and dusk when the long line tuna trawlers are setting their lines.
- Only 3% of the lines are set at night when it is not harmful to the albatross who are not looking for food.
- Albatross can determine if there is food at a distance of 30km.
The issue is that there is an easy fix and it costs the fishing trawlers nothing – set their lines at night instead of at dusk or in the morning. Other appropriate measures include attaching sparkly lines, often free by many agencies, or using protective hook covers.
But by far and away, the solution is to load the fishing lines at night.
So what can you do to help persuade these fishing companies that they need to change their practices? Stop eating tinned tuna! Write the company an e-mail. You can check on the label of the tins in your local grocery. Find out how sustainable they claim to be – and are they? Remember, only 3% are actually following best practices as they relate to the Albatross.
So…we are now trying to avoid plastic when we can, and we are now going to put that tin of tuna back on the shelf! So when you look at that Royal Cam chick – that cute sweet little fluff ball – you are doing the right thing. Thank you!
BirdLife International, July-Sept 2023, 18.
- An example of what a trawler might look like. Many are much larger.