Seabirds Funds Advisory Group.

We have been working with the Seabirds Funds Advisory Group, headed by Dr Graham Robertson, Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Antarctic Division, since 2001. Each year, the SFAG asks for tenders from scientists around the world to receive funding for research projects on albatross conservation.

Based on the advice of the Advisory Group, Peregrine has provided funding for several projects, including an albatross tracking project based on Diego Ramirez Island, near Cape Horn, that traced the foraging flight paths of black-browed albatross and helped identify ocean regions where the birds are most at risk from fishing activities.

Other projects we support under the auspices of the Seabirds Funds Advisory Group include:

1. Seabird Bycatch in Peru: Assessment and Mitigation Measures
Conducted by Joanna Alfaro-Shigueto and Jeffrey Mangel of Asociacion Pro Delphinus, Peru.

We are now into the third year of a project that focuses on the long-line fisheries of Peru. In theory, the birds we see on our South Georgia and Falkland Islands voyages could be caught by fishermen off the coast of Peru.

Information is scarce regarding seabird bycatch along the Pacific coast of South America. The goal of the project is to begin to change this by collecting information on seabird bycatch in small scale (artisanal) fisheries in Peru, to provide the basic tools to locals for the monitoring and management of seabirds and to promote local participation in seabird conservation.

Typically, the Peruvian boats are of about three to 10 tons capacity (ie relatively small). These boats use both long-lines and gillnets, depending on the time of year and the resources available.

Even though these boats are small, the fishery is not. There are many hundreds of these boats fishing along the coast. The long-liners may have anywhere from 500 to 1500 hooks. And depending on the time of year they may fish for 7 days or up to 15 days. They may fish close to the coast or as far out as about 400 miles (again, depends on the target species). The potential impact this fishery is having on albatrosses is both huge and poorly understood.

In the first year of the project, research collected indicated that between 1533 and 4292 albatrosses and petrels were being caught annually by the long-line fleet. Since then, Joanna and Jeffrey, the principal researchers, have instigated an on-board observer program in conjunction with local fishers and government and conducted education programs along the coast for fishermen, government and concerned community members to help them manage their natural resources. The research data will also be made available to the Peruvian government for use in developing a National Plan of Action (NPOA) for fisheries, in line with international agreements under CCAMLR.

2. Investigation of Mitigation Measures to Reduce Seabird Mortality Caused by Warp Cable Strikes on Stern Trawlers.
Conducted by Dr Ben Sullivan from Falklands Conservation.

This study compared three different mitigation measures designed to prevent birds being struck by warp cables which are run from the stern of finfish trawlers in Falklands waters and elsewhere.

The Falklands – which we visit several times each year aboard the Peregrine Mariner and Peregrine Voyager – are home to around 70 per cent of the world's population of black-browed albatross. A 2000/2001 census estimated a reduction of 87,500 birds over the past five years. Up to 90 Black-brows have been recorded killed in a single day's fishing.

In the Falkland Islands finfish fleet, 98 per cent of Black-brow mortalities are caused when birds scavenge factory waste at the stern of the ship during trawling operations and are struck by the warp cable, which drags them underwater until they become impaled on a splice in the cable.

The result of the project was the successful identification, through on-board trials, of a mitigation device for the Falkland Islands finfish fleet that is both operationally effective and economically practicable and may have application for the large freezer trawler fleet operating on the broader Patagonian Shelf, and in other factory trawl fisheries around the world.

3. Research and Development: BS30 Underwater Bait Setting Capsule.
Dr Graham Robertson, Australian Antarctic Division.

The most direct way of minimizing the impact of commercial long-line fishing on seabird bycatch (apart from stopping fishing altogether) is to employ a mitigation device that prevents the birds from diving on the baited hooks. There are a variety of simple and/or cost-effective mitigation devices already available, but for a variety of reasons (not least of which is reluctance from fishers to employ them) they have not been widely or effectively adopted.

The BS30 Underwater Bait Setting Capsule (BSC) is a simple mechanical device that allows baits to be deployed at depth, so that birds are unable to reach them. It utilises hydraulic controls to lower and raise itself from the water. Long-line baits are loaded into the BS30 capsule, the capsule is deployed and the bait released at the desired depth, the capsule then returns to the loading position. This procedure and the speed in

which the procedure is preformed are controlled by a single operator, from the same position on the stern of the ship traditionally used when setting long-line baits.

The BSC has been around for many years, having been developed conceptually in New Zealand and then developed operationally to a crude level by fisher Tony Forster and others in Australia’s Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery (ETBF).

It has been identified as perhaps the most promising device yet developed for use in the tuna long-lining industry . Due to its low cost, efficiency and ease of use, it is more attractive to fishermen than other devices currently available or required by authorities.

Barry Baker, Chair, Longline Fishing Threat Abatement Plan Team, and Executive Secretary, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) comments:

But for lack of funding, the prototype has languished without the necessary engineering to develop the device to a professional standard for testing in a fishery.

Peregrine has so far provided A$30,000 towards the development and initial testing (conducted in early 2006) and will provide additional funding to bring this important project to fruition.