seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries is grossly underestimated when using only haul data海鸟在远洋延绳钓渔业捕获是严重低估时只使用运输数据.pdfVIP

Seabird Bycatch in Pelagic Longline Fisheries Is Grossly Underestimated when Using Only Haul Data 1 2 2 2,3 Nigel Brothers , Alan R. Duckworth , Carl Safina , Eric L. Gilman * 1 Marine Ecology and Technology Consultant, Wonga Beach, Queensland, Australia, 2 Blue Ocean Institute, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, United States of America, 3 Tetra Tech EM Inc., and College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America Abstract Hundreds of thousands of seabirds are killed each year as bycatch in longline fisheries. Seabirds are predominantly caught during line setting but bycatch is generally recorded during line hauling, many hours after birds are caught. Bird loss during this interval may lead to inaccurate bycatch information. In this 15 year study, seabird bycatch was recorded during both line setting and line hauling from four fishing regions: Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, Coral Sea and central Pacific Ocean. Over 43,000 albatrosses, petrels and skuas representing over 25 species were counted during line setting of which almost 6,000 seabirds attempted to take the bait. Bait-taking interactions were placed into one of four categories. (i) The majority (57%) of bait-taking attempts were ‘‘unsuccessful’’ involving seabirds that did not take the bait nor get caught or hooked. (ii) One-third of attempts were ‘‘successful’’ with seabirds removing the bait while not getting caught. (iii) One-hundred and seventy-six seabirds (3% of attempts) were observed being ‘‘caught’’ during line setting, with three albatross species – Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis), black-footed (P. nigripes) and black-browed (Thalassarche melanophrys)– dominating this category. However, of these,