It is now decided that Indian Ocean longliners must protect endangered seabirds. In the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission meeting in Muscat the commission has adopted new measures for advanced seabird conservation so that it would minimize the bycatch of vulnerable albatross and petrel species. According to record all 22 species of albatross are birds of conservation concern and 19 species are facing global extinction.
Extinction of albatross is a global concern as the creature is dying at the rate of one every five minutes. It is said that most of these seabird deaths are not intentional, they are considered the catch of non-target species, or bycatch, in the longline fishing industry. According to the commission surface longlines are suspended about 200 meters beneath the surface and are used to catch tuna and swordfish.
It further said that each longline might exceed 100 kilometers (60 miles) in length and carry 3,000 baited hooks. When longlines are paid out from vessels, seabirds attack the baited hooks, get caught or entangled in gear, are drawn underwater and drown. The proposal of the seabird was led by Australia and the European Community which was supported by Japan and Korea.
New measure required all the longline vessels fishing for tuna and swordfish in the southern Indian Ocean to use a combination of at least two measures to reduce seabird bycatch. Fishing vessel operators can choose to set their hooks at night with minimum deck lighting when birds are less active. They are free to choose a bird streamer, or tori, line to keep birds away from the hooks, add weight to lines to make them sink more quickly out of reach of the albatrosses, and dye bait blue to make it less visible.
Dr. Cleo Small of the BirdLife Global Seabird Programme, said that this measure is a highly positive step for the conservation of these very vulnerable species. She also added that in addition, to be effective, systems will need to be set up to monitor and enforce the measure.
