South Dublin Branch News

Deep Sea Birds & Longline Fisheries See BirdLife's Save the Albatross campaign . . from "Westminister Diary" by Tam Dalyell - New Scientist 02.04.2005 Harm the albatross and dreadful things can happen, as Samuel Taylor Coleridge warned. The albatross has long been underthreat from pirate, long-line fishing. Much has been said of the need to protect the 21 remaining species of the bird, but UK environment minister Elliot Morley admits that there are no immediate solutions to the problem. However, he says a milestone was reached when the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) was ratified in March 2004. It involves the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and the British Antarctic Territories. Morley also now leads an international ministerial task force of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to investigate threats from pirate fishing. But Euan Dunn, head of marine policy at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), says ratification of ACAP has not yet been extended to Tristan da Cunha, the only known breeding ground for the Tristan albatross, the Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross and the sooty albatross - all endangered. Moreover, long-line fishing off the Brazilian coast kills between 700 and 800 birds each year, he adds. The European Commission presented draft proposals for a Community Action Plan three years ago for reducing incidental catch of seabirds in long-line fisheries, but the RSPB reckons the plan is a joke and hardly worth the paper it is written on. A deadline is set for 2006. So what is Morley going to do to press the commission to keep to its 2006 commitment? Questions put to the European Commission re. the decimation of deep sea birds, Albatross in particular, by longline fisheries. Question AUTHOR: Mary Banotti SUBJECT: sea birds and long line fishing Date: 17.10.00 Given the negative effects of longline fishing which kills between 50,000 & 100,000 Northern Fulmars a year in the Northeast Atlantic and given that the survival of a number of albatross species is threatened, what concrete measures are the Commission prepared to take to ensure that EU fishing vessels take the necessary measures to ensure that these unnecessary deaths are avoided? Reply to oral question, February 2001 To tackle this problem, the Community has already incorporated the following mitigation measures into legislation: Using bird-scaring line with plastic streamers attached; Weighting the lines so that they sink faster and pose less risk; Prohibiting the discharge of offal at sea, which attracts seabirds to the lines; Setting the longlines at night, when albatrosses and other seabirds are less likely to be foraging. Using only thawed bait. These measures, which are compulsory for Community fishing companies, have been drawn up by the Council for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which deals with Antarctic waters, and of which the Community is a contracting party. Answer given by Mrs Wallstrom on behalf of the Commission to written question (5 December 2000) Until now most of the concerns expressed to the Commission have referred to the incidental catches of seabirds in the Southern Hemisphere oceans. The Commission is gathering information on the extent to which this issue constitutes a real problem within Community waters. As part of this approach, Commission has requested the International council for the exploration of the sea to provide information and advice on the pressures that fishing activity exerts on marine environment and, more particularly, on non-commercial species. Finally the Commission would refer the Honourable Members to its answer to written question by Mr Davies. (see below) WRITTEN QUESTION by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission. Subject: Death of seabirds Does the Commission agree with the claim made by some environmental organisations that more than 250,000 seabirds are being killed annually by swallowing baited fish hooks set on long line fishing vessels? What estimate has the Commission made of the number of birds killed annually by this means in European waters? Is the Commission taking steps to try and reduce the number of deaths? Answer given by Mrs Wallstrom on behalf of the Commission (10 November 2000) The Commission is certainly aware of this issue, given the world-wide dimension of the Community's fisheries sector. However, it cannot judge the accuracy of the figure mentioned by the Honourable Member without more precise information on the species affected, the seas where the incidental catches occur, the type of fisheries involved and, finally, the accuracy of the sources of the claim. The Commission is not aware that incidental catches of seabirds in longline fisheries within Community waters constitute a problem. Most of the concerns expressed to it have referred to the incidental catches of albatrosses in the Southern Hemisphere (oceans). The Commission works to ensure that special priority is attached to the conservation of the marine environment and of non-commercial species. Member States also play a critical role in the definition and implementation of both environmental and fisheries' measures. The Birds Directive provides a strong legal framework to protect seabirds within the Community. Recent initiatives to address this problem are: Council Regulation (EC) No 66/98, of 18 December 1997, which lays down certain conservation and control measures applicable in the Antarctic zone, aimed at diminishing the incidental catches provoked by longline fisheries; and the adoption at the Food and agriculture organisation (FAO), in 1999, of the international plan of action (IPOA) for reducing incidental catch of seabirds in longline fisheries. This plan concerns all States. The Community will present a Community action plan for seabirds at the next FAO committee of fisheries (COFI), in February 2001 |Back to News|