January 8, 2021 at 3:30 pm
Efforts to prevent seabirds from accidentally being killed during fishing operations off the coast of Namibia have been hailed as “a major conservation success”.
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Biological Conservation, the introduction of more stringent fishing regulations in the country since 2015 has reduced the overall seabird bycatch rate by at least 90%.
The study also attributes the fall in seabird mortality to work led by the Albatross Task Force (ATF) – an organisation established by the RSPB and BirdLife International that operates bases in South America and southern Africa.
With the assistance of ATF campaigns to promote bycatch mitigation practices among fishing crews, the paper estimates that more than 20,000 seabird deaths are now being prevented in Namibian waters on an annual basis.