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BirdLife International's Albatross Task Force now operates in seven southern hemisphere fishing nations in Africa and South America.  One of these is Uruguay where recent at-sea experiments have confirmed the value of deploying bird-scaring ("Tori") lines behind pelagic longliners to reduce the mortality of albatrosses and petrels.

Two recent reports of this success by ATF-Uruguay members Martin Abreu and Sebastián Jiménez may be read on the Task Force Blog.

Sebastián reports that in 2009-2010 ATF Uruguay completed eight fishing trips on commercial longliners.  During days when longline gear was set without using a bird-scaring line 25 birds were caught.  However, with longlines set under the protection of a bird-scaring line not a single bird was killed.  In support of this positive finding Martin went to sea on a research vessel and again deployment of a bird-scaring line resulted in no mortalities, although when not used, birds were killed.  Work is now planned for 2011 to reduce the chances of the longline and bird-scaring line becoming entangled.  Use of a weak link on the bird-scaring line that canj break when an entanglement occurs has shown promise in this regard.

The Uruguayan Albatross Task Force team is employed by Proyecto Albatros y Petreles - Uruguay and works closely with the National Programme of Observers Onboard the Tuna Fleet (Programa Nacional de Observadores a Bordo de la Flota Atunera Uruguaya (PNOFA) and the Pelagic Resources Department (Departamento de Recursos Pelágicos) of the National Direction of Aquatic Resources (Dirección Nacional de Recursos Acuáticos; DINARA).

Click here to access a scientific publication by Proyecto Albatros y Petreles - Uruguay on interactions of seabirds with the Uruguayan longline fishing fleet.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 January 2011