---
title: "Circle or J?  Effect of hook shape on the  catch of albatrosses by longliners"
---

# Circle or J?  Effect of hook shape on the  catch of albatrosses by longliners

The following extracts has been adapted from a paper by AndrésDomingo (Departamento de Recursos Pelágicos, Dirección Nacional de Recursos Acuáticos ([DINARA](http://www.dinara.gub.uy/web_dinara/)), Montevideo, Uruguay)and colleagues published open-acess in the *[Bulletin of Marine Science](http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/bms/)**as part of the**[Proceedings of the International Symposium on Circle Hooks](http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/umrsmas/bullmar/2012/00000088/00000003).*

 "Circle hooks have been promoted as an alternative to traditional J-hooks in pelagic longline fisheries to minimize bycatch mortality and injury to sea turtles and other marine wildlife. We evaluated the effect of hook type (circle hook vs J-hook) on the catch and length composition of target and non-target species in the Uruguayan pelagic longline fishery, for both American- and Spanish-style longlines.

 **American-Style Longline:**Thirteen albatrosses, including 11 Black-browed Albatross, *Thalassarche melanophris* and two Shy-type Albatrosses *Thalassarche*spp., were caught with J-hooks and five albatrosses (four Black-browed and one Southern Royal *Diomedea epomophora*) were caught with circle hooks.  However, there was no significant hook difference.

 **Spanish-Style Longline:**Six Albatrosses, four Black-browed, one Atlantic Yellow-nosed *T. chlororhynchos* and one Wandering Albatross *Diomedea exulans* were caught with J-hooks and only one Black-browed Albatross and two petrels (one White-chinned *Procellaria aequinoctialis*and one unidentified) were caught with circle hooks.

 The bycatch of albatrosses is a major conservation issue in the Uruguayan fishery because their catch rates are among the highest reported worldwide.  Although we observed a tendency for J-hooks to catch more albatrosses than circle hooks, this pattern was not significant. However, the potential of circle hooks to reduce albatross bycatch deserves further research."

 ![](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/S/Southern_Royal/Southern_royal_sitting by Aleks Terauds.jpg)  
Southern Royal Albatross by Aleks Terauds

 **Reference:**

 Domingo, A., Pons, M., Jiménez, S., Miller, P. Barceló, C. & Swimmer, Y. 2012.  Circle hook performance in the Uruguayan pelagic longline fishery. [*Bulletin of Marine Science* 88: 499-511](http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search/download?pub=infobike%3a%2f%2fumrsmas%2fbullmar%2f2012%2f00000088%2f00000003%2fart00008&mimetype=application%2fpdf).

 With thanks to Sebastián Jiménez for the PDF

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 August 2012*