Will it enact change? The UK has published its Bycatch Mitigation Initiative

The Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater ranges in UK waters; photograph by Pep Arcos

The UK has published its Bycatch Mitigation Initiative, outlining its strategy on minimising and, where feasible, eliminating the bycatch of marine species. Recognising that further action needs to be taken to achieve its proposed strategic objectives, the initiative extends on existing programmes such as the UK Bycatch Monitoring Programme and Clean Catch UK. 

In a piece written for, Wildlife and Countryside Link (Link), Ruby Temple-Long, RSPB Marine Policy Officer and Chair of the Link Bycatch sub-group, offers her personal perspective of the Bycatch Mitigation Initiative. The article can be accessed through the website, here.

Accidental death through interactions with fishing operations is the most significant threat to marine wildlife globally. In regard to seabirds, thousands are dying avoidable deaths each year when they swallow baited longline hooks and are then drowned, through collisions with trawl cables or entanglement in nets. ACAP has developed a range of Conservation Guidelines including Best Practice Advice on bycatch mitigation measures identified to reduce this mortality. Conservation Guidelines and Bycatch Mitigation Advice can be downloaded at the ACAP website under Resources, https://www.acap.aq.

Posted 31 August 2022