Catch Fish, Not Birds

 

Caring for seabirds isn’t a common topic of conversation among anglers – particularly after they’ve stolen a few of our baits – but it’s certainly something we need to be mindful of. John Eichelsheim updates us on the state of the seabird population and gives us a few practical tips to protect them from further decline.

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New Zealand has one of the most diverse seabird faunas in the world. Cold, nutrient-rich water of the Southern Ocean mingles with warmer water from temperate and tropical regions, turning the seas around New Zealand into a rich feeding ground.

Seabirds can seem prolific, but in reality, their numbers around the New Zealand coast are a fraction of what they once were. Today, 30 indigenous seabird species are classified as endangered, and many more are in serious decline or considered threatened.

Global seabird crisis

Seabirds are in decline right around the world. Some of the biggest threats to seabirds include changes in the distribution and abundance of food due to accelerated climate change, destruction of breeding sites, water pollution and mortality as a result of commercial fishing operations.

Fishing kills millions of seabirds every year through accidental capture and/or collateral damage, as well as starvation resulting from competition for food with human fishers.

Diving birds are a dead cert there will be an angler's target species lurking below.

Diving birds are a dead cert there will be an angler's target species lurking below.

Another serious threat to seabirds is pollution, particularly plastics pollution. Mistaking plastic objects for food, many sea birds ingest items as large as bottles or eat fish that have themselves eaten plastic.

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Plastic is indigestible and has no food value, but it fills the bird’s gut, fooling it into thinking it has eaten enough. A belly full of plastic interferes with the bird’s ability to digest real food, and plastic objects can block the bowel, resulting in a slow death from infection. Adult birds often mistakenly feed plastic pieces to their growing chicks, many of which die of starvation in the nest.

Plastic waste is not yet the huge problem in New Zealand that it is in some parts of the world, but plastic pollution in the seas around our coast is becoming steadily worse.

Plastic pollution is a serious threat to seabirds.

Plastic pollution is a serious threat to seabirds.

Fishing mortality and nest site destruction are currently bigger issues that continue to negatively impact seabird populations. In the relatively short time New Zealand has been settled by humans, many mainland seabird nesting sites have been abandoned because they are no longer viable due to habitat destruction, forest removal and predation by introduced predators. Predator-free offshore islands have become vital seabird refuges.

The impact of fishing

Fishing takes a fearsome toll on seabirds. Recreational fishing is less destructive than large scale commercial fishing, but many inshore seabird species such as shags, shearwaters and gannets are accidentally hooked or tangled in recreational fishing gear, and mortality can be high.

It can be very difficult for anglers to avoid hooking seabirds. Diving petrels and shearwaters are especially troublesome. Totally fearless, they dive deep after baited hooks and regularly hook themselves. Shags are also vulnerable, attacking livebaits or hooked fish, while gannets dive-bomb lures, baits and hooked fish, often becoming hooked or entangled in the line.

Southern species like mollymawks and various albatrosses, while they don’t dive, are large enough to attack the biggest of baits. Fearsome scavengers, they are undaunted by bait type or size, boats or people, and once hooked or tangled, they are difficult to handle boat-side due to their large size and considerable strength. Most seabirds have sharp beaks as well!

Seabirds that die from injuries sustained when caught up in fishing gear often leave behind chicks in the nest, which starve to death, compounding the impact of their deaths.

Fishing smarter

Recreational fishers can reduce seabird bycatch by changing how they fish.

Hungry birds are attracted by the sight and smell of food, so avoid feeding birds while fishing and don’t leave baited hooks on deck or dangling from rods. Gulls, in particular, are notorious for taking baits on the fly from rods left unattended in rod holders.

You can try going fishing in the early morning or at night time when seabirds are less active. Using artificial baits/lures can be another successful strategy for avoiding seabird capture, although seabirds occasionally mistake artificial baits for the real thing and become hooked. Gannets will occasionally dive on trolled lures or stickbaits and shags sometimes bite soft-baits. Diving petrels usually ignore them.

Using lures is an effective way to reduce attention from birds.

Using lures is an effective way to reduce attention from birds.

Casting lures or baits directly into flocks of feeding seabirds should be avoided. Even if you don’t accidentally hook a bird, there’s every chance one might tangle in your line.

In areas where birds are a real problem, savvy charter operators sometimes keep bait scraps and discarded baits in a covered bin, disposing them over the side only when fishing has stopped. This is a trick that recreational fishers could easily adopt. The downside is that this strategy prevents discarded baits from being used as berley to attract fish to the boat.

While berley attracts fish, it also rings the dinner gong for seabirds. Berley administered at the surface is the worst culprit, drawing birds from miles away. Most seabirds not only possess superb eyesight but also have an acute sense of smell. Deploying berley at depth using a suspended berley pot or similar device is a much better method as it attracts fewer birds.

‘Chunking’ or ‘cubing’, where small pieces of cut fish are dropped into the water one at a time to create a trail, while very effective at attracting and holding fish, can be irresistible to diving birds and frustrating for fishers. Sometimes birds intercept every piece before it has time to sink, negating the benefits of setting a chunk trail. While drifting an unweighted bait down the chunk trail is a highly effective way to catch all sorts of fish, when seabirds are on the chew, the chances of your baited hook getting past them unmolested is negligible, rendering fishing almost impossible.

Chunking is an effective way to attract fish, but birds will often be close behind.

Chunking is an effective way to attract fish, but birds will often be close behind.

There are a couple of ways to prevent every chunk in the trail from being eaten by birds. The simplest is to drop chunks into the water on the upwind side of the boat, so they disappear under the hull and have a chance to sink out of diving range before they become visible again on the other side of the boat.

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A more reliable method is to deploy a long tube thrust into the water. Cubes dropped into the tube don’t attract the attention of birds until they emerge at the other end. By the time the birds notice them they should be deep enough to be out of diving range.

However, deploying a baited hook is still problematic. Diving birds often swim down faster than anglers can sink their baits and they also attack the same baits as they are drawn back towards the surface.

As per above, most of the strategies for reducing accidental seabird capture revolve around sinking baits beyond the reach of diving birds as quickly as possible, or distracting/scaring birds long enough for the bait to descend unmolested.

Many such strategies and techniques were adapted from those developed in commercial fisheries to reduce seabird bycatch. New Zealand enforces fairly strict controls over commercial fishing methods to mitigate seabird mortality, although in certain fisheries, mortality, particularly of albatrosses, remains unsustainably high.

Unhooking and releasing seabirds

If a bird is accidentally hooked or entangled in line, be as gentle as possible and avoid handling it any more than is necessary. Even large birds are extremely fragile. Damage to feathers or wings can affect their ability to fly, while hook injuries to the mouth can affect their ability to feed – either results in certain death.

Draw a hooked or entangled bird slowly to the boat, or better still, move the boat to the bird. Where possible, cover the bird’s head and eyes with a cloth or towel before bringing it aboard, gripping it firmly around the neck without throttling it and controlling the beak, but being careful not to cover its nostrils. The towel will help protect you from the bird’s beak and claws. If you can, tuck the bird gently under your arm to control its wings and then assess the situation.

If the bird has swallowed the hook, cut the line close to the mouth – don’t attempt to remove the hook. If the bird is hooked in the mouth, the best approach may be to push the hook all the way through the beak, flatten the barb or cut off the point with wire cutters and then remove the hook.

If the bird is tangled in the line, ensure you completely clear the line before you release it. Braided fishing lines are particularly difficult to clear, and with their fine diameter, they easily work their way through a bird’s feathers. They can cut into the flesh when the line’s under tension, so take it easy when pulling the bird to the boat.

It can take a bit of time to free a bird tangled in the line, but they can usually be released unharmed if you are patient and methodical. It’s important not to leave any line wrapped around the bird when you release it.

Scare and splash

Bird scaring devices incorporating streamers or tapes can be used to create a clear, bird exclusion zone anglers can fish into. These devices can be improvised using a spare rod or an outrigger, some line, plastic ribbon and/or plastics bags and water-filled bottles. The noise and motion keep birds away but take care not to lose plastic components into the sea.

It may seem odd, but seabirds don’t like to be splashed with water. Throwing a bucket of seawater over them or squirting them with the deck hose sends individual birds packing, at least long enough to safely deploy a baited hook. It’s simple to do and very effective.

For more strategies to avoid catching seabirds visit: www.southernseabirds.org

   This article is reproduced with permission of   
New Zealand Fishing News

April 2020 - John Eichelsheim
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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