What are long-line fisheries?

As the name implies, long-line fisheries use a long line - a piece of rope or nylon - that lies in the water supporting baited hooks. There are two main types of long-lines:

Surface long-lines

Surface long-lines are suspended about 200 metres below the surface from floats. They might exceed 100 kilometres in length and carry 3000 baited hooks suspended on 40-metre-long branch lines. Baited hooks are spaced about 50 metres apart and bob up and down in the water to attract fish. Surface long-lining is used all around the world to catch highly prized mid-water fish like tuna and swordfish.

Bottom or ground long-lining is used to catch deep-water fishes like ling, hake and Patagonian toothfish. Bottom long-lines are heavier than surface long-lines and carry many more hooks on much shorter lines. Every year bottom long-liners set hundreds of millions of baited hooks into oceans inhabited by albatrosses.

Albatrosses' awesome flying ability and vast range make it easy for them to follow fishing vessels - particularly when there's a free feed on offer. As the baited hooks are deployed by the fishing trawlers, the albatross dive for the baits, the hooks lodge in the bill or throat and the bird is dragged under and drowned

In the Southern Ocean which is inhabited by most species of albatross, over one hundred thousand albatrosses and several species of petrels are killed annually.

Surface long-lining is the biggest threat to the wandering albatross. These slow-moving birds have time to attack the long branch lines floundering in the water. Bottom long-lining is less of a threat to ‘wanderers’ as the heavier lines sink faster and they are out-competed by smaller and more manoeuvrable species like the black-browed albatross. These and the grey-headed albatrosses are particularly vulnerable to long-lining, both surface and ground, as they are good divers and can reach the baits as deep as two metres down. The birds are also inadvertently encouraged to hang around the ship as the offal from the cleaned catch is thrown overboard, providing a veritable banquet.

The problem is compounded by the illegal long-line fishing for Patagonian toothfish because this fishing occurs in defiance of the law and international agreements designed to protect fish stocks and bycatch species like the various seabirds. Clearly, it's unlikely that efforts would be made by these particular fishermen to safeguard seabirds from becoming hooked.

What can be done

Measures to reduce albatross mortality in long-line fishing do exist and have done so for at least 10 years. The most effective are night fishing, flying lines of streamers behind boats to scare albatrosses off hooks, adding weight to long-lines so they sink faster, setting long-lines deep underwater and expelling offal discreetly.

However, experience has shown that educating fishermen about mitigation measures, though essential, is unlikely to make certain fishermen comply with conservation requests voluntarily. So it is vital that mitigation devices are easy to employ, cost-effective and are legislated for by authorities. This summarises the focus of Peregrine's albatross conservation initiatives - grass roots development of mitigation devices, education and advocacy for fisheries regulation.