Letting sea birds off the hook

With the world in a state of environmental turmoil it’s easy to lose hope as we hear of yet more and more species of both plant and animal becoming endangered or extinct. If that wasn’t bad enough most of the current extinctions are due to human activity, in most cases it is not intentional but through our ignorance humanity is causing destruction on a mass scale. Now before you think we are too far gone let me tell you that there is still hope we are starting to change in ways which are well inspiring. So let me tell you about the fantastic work being done to save sea birds such as the endangered Albatross (Diomedeidae).

Albatross have the largest wing span of any other species they spend the majority of their time fishing out at sea. They are perfectly adapted to a life on the open ocean being able to conserve energy while traveling long distances to find food. Albatross eat a variety of fish from tuna to squid but unfortunately so do humans which is why they have become so endangered. Long line fishing is the biggest threat that face albatross today, as you can infer from the name long line fishing involves long lines of hooks baited with fish dropped down towards the sea floor (lines can be up to 130km long). The bait is not for the albatross however it is actually for larger predatory fish species such as blue finned tuna (Thunnus thynnus) which we like to eat. The albatross has learnt that these long lines have free food on them, as the baited hooks enter the water the albatross try’s to eat the fish attached as bait on the hook. Unfortunately the albatross after grabbing what it thinks is free food, is then dragged down towards the sea floor as the hook sinks causing the bird to drown. As a result it is roughly estimated that 300,000 sea birds die every year, only around 10,000 of these are albatross.

The hooks are also equipped with light sticks which attract passing fish when sunk into the dark depths of the ocean, this however is not very sustainable as the light sticks are used once and then thrown into the sea contributing to the plastic problem the world now faces. The chemicals in these light sticks are also harmful if ingested by many marine species who use taste to investigate unknown or alien objects in their environment e.g. seals or sharks. There are 22 species of albatross and at least 15 of them are now listed as endangered on the ICUN red list, which highlights the severity of the problem at hand.

However there is hope thanks to a brilliant new invention known as the hookpod. The hookpod covers the hook as it enters the water preventing albatross and any other seabird from becoming caught on the hook. Once safely out of the birds reach the hookpod activated by the changing sea pressure opens, releasing the baited hook. The hookpod also has an LED light which lasts up to 3 years before needing to be changed reducing plastic waste, and saving the fishermen some money. The hookpod has passed its trial period and is now ready to be manufactured commercially to be used in long line fisheries around the world.

Thanks to human compassion and intelligence we now have a viable long term solution which benefits scientists, fish, seabirds and the fishermen themselves. This is great news for all marine life which need all the help they can get in this increasingly polluted planet. It also shows us that we can co-exist with wildlife without causing the issues we face today, that humanity can come back from this mess we have created. One small random act of kindness or good deed at a time and we really can change the world, making it a merrier place for both humans and wildlife alike.

For more information on the issues of plastic pollution or conservation efforts then check out the papers below.

Eriksen, M., Lebreton, L. C., Carson, H. S., Thiel, M., Moore, C. J., Borerro, J. C., ... & Reisser, J. (2014). Plastic pollution in the world's oceans: more than 5 trillion plastic pieces weighing over 250,000 tons afloat at sea. PloS one, 9(12), e111913.

Sullivan, B. J., Kibel, B., Kibel, P., Yates, O., Potts, J. M., Ingham, B., ... & Maree, B. A. (2017). At‐sea trialling of the Hookpod: a ‘one‐stop’mitigation solution for seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries. Animal Conservation.

Wolfaardt, A., Favero, M., & Walker, N. (2016). ACAP advice for reducing the impact of pelagic longline fishing operations on seabirds. Report to the 12th IOTC Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch-IOTC-2016-WPEB12-34.