A deployed bird-scaring line flutters in the wind, photograph from Projeto Albatroz

The USA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has proposed to modify seabird interaction mitigation measures to require federally permitted Hawaii deep-set longline vessels that target tuna by setting fishing gear from the stern to use a tori or bird scaring line in place of the currently required thawed, blue-dyed bait and strategic offal (fish, fish parts, or spent bait) discharge when fishing north of 23°N latitude. This action, now open for written comment, is expected to improve the overall efficacy and operational practicality of required seabird mitigation measures by reducing seabird bycatch and creating operational and administrative efficiency for fishers and NMFS (click here). The fishery is one that interacts with both Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses.

Deployment of bird-scaring (tori) lines is one of a suite of best-practice mitigation methods for pelagic longline fisheries recommended by the Albatross and Petrel Agreement (click here) and adopted by tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (tRFMOs). The other two of a "triad" are night setting and line weighting, with best practice considered the adoption of all three. Additionally, use of approved hook-shielding devices is also considered best practice. For example, the relevant conservation measure of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) calls for use of two of the three mitigation measures or use of hook-shielding devices south of 30°S. Use of blue-dyed bait is explicitly not recommended by ACAP, which states for this measure that there is “No experimental evidence of effectiveness in pelagic longline fisheries”. For thawing bait it states that there is “No evidence that the thaw status of baits has any effect on the sink rate of baited hooks set on weighted lines”.

Igoir Debski, Co-convenor of the ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group confirms: " "Bird-scaring lines (or tori lines) are one of the three primary best-practice seabird bycatch mitigation measures recommended by ACAP.  However, it is important to note that each measure has limitations when used alone. There is a period of time when hooks are accessible to birds even when branch lines are weighted. Night setting used alone is less effective at reducing seabird bycatch for nocturnally active birds and during bright moonlight conditions. Bird-scaring lines used alone can rarely protect baited hooks beyond the aerial extent of the line. Consequently, the simultaneous use of the three ACAP recommended seabird bycatch mitigation measures compensate for these limitations."

Eric Gilman, Pelagic Ecosystems Research Group and a past Senior Fellow at the Safina Center, writes to ACAP Latest News: “A 2021 experiment documented tori [bird-scaring] lines were a more effective seabird bycatch mitigation approach than blue-dyed fish bait in the Hawaii tuna longline fishery. In the late 1990s research was conducted on blue-dyed squid bait, which held some promise at mitigating albatross bycatch, but less so for dyeing blue fish bait darker blue. So, when tori lines are used as prescribed they should be a conservation benefit as a replacement for blue-dyed fish bait.”

Read a "two-pager" that summarizes the proposed rule change here.  It includes a schematic and detailed specifications for the proposed bird-scaring line.

With thanks to Igor Debski, Eric Gilman, Mi Ae Kim and Andre Raine.

References:

Chaloupka, M., Gilman, E., Carnes, M., Ishizaki, A., Brady, C., Swimmer, Y., Wang, J., Ellgen, S. & Kingma, E. 2021. Could Tori Lines replace Blue-dyed Bait to reduce Seabird Bycatch Risk in the Hawaii Deep-set Longline Fishery?  Honolulu: Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. 28 pp.

Gilman, E., Chaloupka, M., Ishizaki, A., Carnes, M., Naholowaa, H., Brady, C., Ellgen, S. & Kingma, E. 2021. Tori lines mitigate seabird bycatch in a pelagic longline fishery. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 31: 653-666. (click here).

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 14 November 2023

Notifications of HPAI outbreaks to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) in Procellariiformes (updated 5 November 2023). ACAP Parties are marked in blue.

The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels’ Intersessional Group on High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza H5N1 has released an updated version of ACAP’s Guidelines for working with albatrosses and petrels during the high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 panzootic.

An extract follows:

“Relevant information on high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1

1. The current panzootic wave of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 started in 2021 and has killed millions of seabirds worldwide. 

2. HPAI H5N1 viruses spread to South America in late 2022 and have since caused mass mortality of seabirds and marine mammals. 

3. HPAI H5N1 viruses have arrived in sub-Antarctic islands in October 2023, but not yet in mainland Antarctica. The situation may change rapidly. 

4. Oceania, including Australia and New Zealand, is the only remaining region of the world free of this virus, but this situation may also change rapidly. 

5. By the end of October 2023 no mass mortality events of procellariiform birds have been attributed to HPAI H5N1; however, these species are susceptible to infection and could be vulnerable to future outbreaks. 

6. Birds infected by HPAI H5N1 viruses typically show one or more of the following disease signs: atypical behaviour, neurological signs, conjunctivitis, and respiratory distress. 

7. The virus is transmissible to humans, but risk is currently considered low.”

In commenting on the overall scenario and the updated guidelines, Patricia Serafini, Co-convenor of the Agreement’s Population and Conservation Status Working Group (PaCSWG) and member of the ACAP Intersessional Group said: "High pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI), caused by the virus H5N1, results in rapid and high mortality in infected wildlife groups. Researchers and authorities have been engaged in studying and understanding the impacts of this ongoing panzootic since the first ACAP guidelines on HPAI were released in 2022, and a lot of new information has been released. Migratory bird species arriving to the Southern Ocean (mostly between September and November) could transmit HPAI to the region, coinciding with the arrival of breeding seabirds, including ACAP species. Furthermore, it is possible that the virus could survive in the environment beyond the austral summer. Considering the present global panzootic scenario and the new information available, experts from several countries have been engaged together in an ACAP intersessional group to update and provide managers and ACAP Parties with the most up-to-date guidance for surveillance, monitoring, and response for HPAI outbreaks that might occur this season."

Reference:

Serafini, P.P.; Vanstreels, R.E.T.; Uhart, M.; Dewar, M.; Wille, M.; Roberts, L.; Black, J.; Jiménez-Uzcátegui, G.; Baker, H.; Michael, S.; Gartrell, B.; Gamble, A.; Younger, J.; Lopez, V.; Work, T. 2023. Guidelines for working with albatrosses and petrels during the high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 panzootic. Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), 11 pages. Available from https://www.acap.aq/resources/disease-threats/avian-flu

13 November 2023

32 seabird species were identified as occurring in the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA) management area, including the Endangered Amsterdam Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis

Keith Reid (Ross Analytics Pty Ltd, Tasmania, Australia) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems on fisheries management bodies integrating non-target species impact into their regulatory frameworks, focusing on the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA).

Figure 1 from the paper: The Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement Area with subareas labelled numerically, important geographic features mentioned in the text are labelled.

The paper’s abstract follows:

1. Fisheries bycatch has been identified as the most serious threat to many seabird species and there is an increasing awareness of the responsibility of fisheries management bodies to include the impact on non-target species in their management and regulatory frameworks.
2. In 2022, an ecological risk assessment (ERA) for seabirds and fisheries was presented to the Scientific Committee of the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA). This ERA identified 32 seabird species that regularly occurred in the SIOFA Area, of which 11 were determined as being at high risk. This high-risk group included 10 albatross species that have the greatest likelihood of interacting with SIOFA managed fisheries in Subareas 1, 2 and 3b (west of 40° E) where they overlap with the pelagic longline fishery.
3. Although the pelagic longline fishery for Ruvettus pretiosus is the largest fishery under the auspices of SIOFA, in terms of catch and number of vessels, the existing management measures of SIOFA focused on demersal fisheries and did not include any mitigation requirements for pelagic longlines. In response to the outcomes of the ERA, a proposed amendment to SIOFA's management measures was presented by France to the Meeting of Parties of SIOFA and led to the revision of SIOFA's seabird bycatch mitigation measures in respect of pelagic longlines, making them consistent with those agreed by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission.
4. Regulatory diffusion, the increased likelihood of adoption of regulation by one agency if that regulation has been adopted by another agency, contributed to the relatively rapid transition from the identification of the risk posed by pelagic longline vessels to the change in regulations to address those risks in SIOFA.

Reference:

Reid, K., Baker, G.B. &  Delord, K. (2023).  Ecological risk assessment in the southern Indian Ocean: Towards better seabird bycatch mitigation. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems,  33(11),  1218–1228. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.4006

10 November 2023

Shy Albatross in flight, by Wendell Ribeiro, Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature, 2020

Peter Ryan & Oluwadunsin Adekola (FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, Douth Africa) have published in Ostrich Journal of African Ornithology on moult of White-capped/Shy Albatrosses Thalassarche steadi/cauta killed in South African waters.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Albatrosses typically only replace a subset of flight feathers each annual moult cycle. We scored the moult of 662 White-capped/Shy Albatrosses Thalassarche steadi/cauta, using birds that had been killed by longline fisheries off South Africa. Most adults and immatures alternated replacing the outer primaries (phase 1) and inner primaries (phase 2), but there was considerable variation among adults, with 0–10 primaries replaced each moult cycle. Birds in phase 1 moult replaced fewer primaries than birds in phase 2, but the proportion by mass was similar. Adults replaced more primaries than immatures as there was a disproportionate number of adults in phase 2 moult (82%), which might indicate that most adults off South Africa are in their first year after a successful breeding attempt, but a similar bias occurred among beached birds from New Zealand and Australia. The outer primaries were usually replaced outwards from P8, but the replacement sequence was more variable among the inner primaries. Secondary moult overlapped with primary moult, but not all secondaries were moulted each year. Adults had more active moult centres and replaced more secondaries at once than immatures. Tail moult started after primary moult, with 1–11 feathers growing from 1–6 active centres. Some birds replaced their rectrices in pairs, with often 2 or 3 pairs moulting at once, but others replaced alternate feathers or almost all rectrices at once. A few birds exhibited intense wing moult, but the norm was to replace only 1 or 2 primaries and 1–6 secondaries at once. Age- and sex-related differences in moult intensity presumably result from different time constraints. Adult White-capped/Shy Albatrosses take a year off between successful breeding attempts, allowing time for a more protracted moult. However, we cannot explain the intense moult in some immatures. Our findings support recent studies showing that albatross flight feather moult patterns are more varied than previously reported.”

Reference:

Ryan, P.G. & Adekola, O.E 2023. Pattern and intensity of moult in White-capped/Shy Albatrosses Thalassarche steadi/cauta. Ostrich: 10.2989/00306525.2023.2263169.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 09 November 2023