International Agreements to Prevent Seabird Mortality in Longline Fisheries

Spurred by increasing evidence of declines in seabird populations, particularly albatrosses, a few nations, international fishing commissions, conservation organizations, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have begun to act to resolve the problem. In 1992, the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) enacted strict regulations requiring all longline vessels in CCAMLAR waters to use a series of avoidance measures. The U.S. adopted these measures in March 1995 for all U.S. flagged vessels in CCAMLR waters. Under the guidance of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), since 1992, Australia, Japan and New Zealand have taken seabird mitigation measures in their southern bluefin tuna longline fishery and made the use of bird scaring lines mandatory in their fisheries. In 1996 Australia required all vessels fishing below 30 degrees south latitude to use bird scaring lines. In October 1996, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) adopted a resolution urging nations to "adopt the goal of eliminating seabird by-catch within longline fisheries" and "...implement seabird by-catch reduction measures immediately within longline fisheries." In April 1997, the U.S. adopted regulations for all Alaskan longliners requiring the use of some methods to avoid killing seabirds. This was spurred by the killing of an endangered species, the Short-tailed Albatross. Also in 1997, all of the world's albatross species were added as protected species under the Bonn Convention. Later in 1997, Japan became the first country to require seabird avoidance measures on all its longline fishing vessels fishing in the Southern oceans when the Japanese Fisheries Agency required the use of bird scaring lines. Further support for an international protocol to reduce or eliminate seabird bycatch is found in Article 7.6.9 of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries adopted by all member nations. It provides that states should take appropriate measures to minimize waste, discards, catch by lost or abandoned gear, catch of non-target species, both fish and non-fish species, and negative impact on associated or dependent species, in particular endangered species. It further provides that states and regional fisheries management organizations should promote, to the extent practicable, the development and use of selective, environmentally safe and cost effective gear and techniques.

Responding to increasing evidence of significant impacts to seabird populations posed by longline mortality, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Committee on Fisheries agreed at its March 1997 plenary meeting to an intergovernmental consultation on what actions could be taken to deal with the problem of seabird bycatch in longline fisheries. A seabird technical working group was appointed and met in March 1998 in Tokyo, Japan. Agreement was reached by the experts on an International Plan of Action for the Reduction of the Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries. (IPOA-Seabirds) and technical guidelines were developed as to how nations could avoid seabird bycatch. After several contentious meetings in Rome, the full FAO approved the IPOA-Seabirds in February 1999. American Bird Conservancy participated in the development of the FAO International Plan of Action for Seabirds and an ABC staffer chaired a seabird work group and was appointed to serve as an Advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the FAO negotiations. While the IPOA-Seabirds finally adopted fell short of the strong U.S. positions supported by conservationists, the Plan marked a major success in achieving the elimination of the killing of seabirds by the earth's longline fleets. For a complete version of the FAO Plan of Action and Appendices - see the FAO web site.

The IPOA, which is voluntary, calls for each nation to assess its longline fishery and if it determines there is a problem, to adopt and begin implementing a National Plan of Action by February of 2001 to reduce the killing of seabirds. Mitigation measures are to be required and appropriate observation of seabird mortality is suggested.

Unfortunately, few nations have adopted National Plans of Actions and fewer are implementing such plans. Seabird scientists at the International Albatross Conference (May 2000) concluded that ".we found it striking that most countries have failed to initiate a characterization of seabird bycatch in long line fisheries within their EEZ. We heard an overwhelming cry for assistance. Clearly, many countries need help to raise awareness of seabird conservation issues at all levels. This will not happen with workshops and conferences, but rather by aggressive efforts within these countries and within fishing fleets."

At the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) meeting of the United Nations (FAO) ending on 2 March 2001, written and oral reports were made by member states on their progress in producing National Plans of Action. It appears that only 11 countries and one regional economic integration body has made, or are in the process of making, a decision to produce NPOA-Seabirds. These are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Community, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, USA and Vietnam. Two countries (New Zealand and Japan) have produced draft texts, and the U.S. final NPOA was released just before the meeting.

A large number of countries advised COFI that they did not need to produce NPOA's, based on the scale of the problem as assessed by them, or the fact they did not engage in longline fishing. These countries included Argentina, Iceland and Uruguay. BirdLife International and other conservation groups strongly disagree, and believes that Argentina, Iceland and Uruguay should proceed to produce NPOA-Seabirds without delay.

A third group of FAO-member countries did not report to COFI, notably Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Korea, all of which have a serious enough bird mortality problem that NPOA-Seabirds are urgently required. In addition, NPOA-Seabirds are required for French and British overseas possessions in the Southern Hemisphere and for Russia and Taiwan (which are not FAO member states).

In BirdLife International's view, at least 25 countries need NPOA-Seabirds in place now if the world-wide slaughter of seabirds on longlines is to be reduced to levels where the affected seabirds are no longer at risk.

Despite ABC's best efforts, the U.S. Plan is deficient and essentially maintains the status quo. The U.S. Plan fails to require prescriptive measures with performance standards to end or significantly reduce the killing of seabirds in its own Alaskan and Hawaiian fisheries. While the U.S. is ahead of most longlining nations in its Plan and its efforts to reduce seabird bycatch, U.S. conservation organizations were expecting a better Plan. For the U.S. NPOA-Seabirds - see NOAA's public affairs department web site.