An Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) went into effect in 2004 with thirteen countries-including the United Kingdom, Peru, South Africa and Australia-committing to reduce seabird bycatch among their fisheries. Since then, the industry and regulators have adopted mitigation methods to reduce the number of birds being unintentionally reeled in.

Much has been done to reduce their bycatch in the 15 years since the American Bird Conservancy published a scathing report about the impact of longline fishing on seabirds, “ Sudden Death on the High Seas,” but an estimated 600,000 birds still fall prey to fishing vessels each year.Īt the time of the report, 23 species of seabird were in danger of extinction because of longline fishing problems that “can be solved easily and inexpensively,” the report stated. Some unwanted fish can still end up on a restaurant menu all the same.īut there’s no such option for the albatross, petrels and gulls that are among the most commonly by-caught birds-some of them critically endangered species.

Hundreds of thousands of seabirds are injured or killed each year due to ill-fated run-ins with fishing gear, according to organizations like BirdLife International, a group of conservation nonprofits that monitors seabird bycatch.īycatch includes any unwanted fish or other marine species caught during commercial fishing for another species. But those fish can come with some deadly strings attached for birds that collide with their lines, nets and hooks. Fishing vessels on the high seas have often meant easy meals for seabirds foraging in their wake.

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