Floating scarecrow with googly eyes could save birds at sea
The device could help tackle the issue of bycatch, in which an estimated 400,000 seabirds are caught and drowned in gillnet fisheries around the world each year
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Researchers create bizarre floating gadget that could save millions of seabirds
It s a floating buoy that has big looming eyes A A
Imagine you’re a long-tailed Duck (
Clangula hyemalis). You see a small, delicious fish in the water and you dive towards it, looking for a tasty meal. But just as you catch it in your beak, you hit a wall of near-invisible netting, meeting the same fate as the fish you’re trying to eat.
Far from being a hypothetical scenario, this is a danger that many seabirds face every day because of something gillnets.
Image credit: BirdLife International
Googly-eyed scarecrow could prevent seabirds drowning in fishing nets – study pressandjournal.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pressandjournal.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Last modified on Wed 5 May 2021 07.23 EDT
Scarecrows may be outstanding in their field, but now scientists have created an unusual floating version that could help reduce the number of vulnerable seabirds caught by fishing nets.
The device, known as a looming-eyes buoy (LEB), and developed in collaboration with engineers from Fishtek Marine, was trialled in Küdema Bay, Saaremaa island, Estonia, on long-tailed ducks. It uses bright eyespots and looming movements to act as a natural deterrent, preventing seabirds from diving into gillnets â vertical nets used in small-scale fisheries in many countries.
Publishing their findings in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the scientists â from BirdLife International and the Estonian Ornithological Society â found the device to reduce the numbers of birds by a quarter within a 50-metre radius of the buoy.
Floating ‘WALL-E’ scarecrow stops seabirds diving into fishing nets Rhi Storer
Scarecrows may be outstanding in their field, but now scientists have created an unusual floating version that could help reduce the number of vulnerable seabirds caught by fishing nets.
The device, known as a looming-eyes buoy (LEB), and developed in collaboration with engineers from Fishtek Marine, was trialled in Küdema Bay, Saaremaa island, Estonia, on long-tailed ducks. It uses bright eyespots and looming movements to act as a natural deterrent, preventing seabirds from diving into gillnets – vertical nets used in small-scale fisheries in many countries.
Publishing their findings in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the scientists – from BirdLife International and the Estonian Ornithological Society – found the device to reduce the numbers of birds by a quarter within a 50-metre radius of the buoy.