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.
Mitigation become law
The Task Force quickly set to work and started meeting with the fishing industry to show them seabird ‘mitigation measures’ like bird-scaring lines – simple lines with colourful streamers towed behind the vessel that act as ‘scarecrows’ and keep birds away from baited hooks or dangerous trawl cables. After many thousands of hours at sea and in ports building support for these measures and the importance of protecting seabirds, in 2015 the team were successful in advocating for fishery regulations requiring the use of mitigation measures by law.
These news laws meant that bird-scaring lines were widely adopted across the fleet, and the new study demonstrates just how effective the potent combination of grassroots engagement and solid regulations has been.