Shocking pink tubes help to save albatrosses

Andy Coghlan, New Scientist 23 Feb 09;

Gaudy strips of pink fluorescent tubing are helping to save albatrosses from extinction. They frighten the birds away from baited hooks on fishing lines, which attract, snag and drown some 100,000 albatrosses and petrels a year.

In South African waters in 2008, 85% fewer albatrosses died this way than a year earlier, thanks to the introduction of the pink strips on vessels fishing there for tuna and swordfish.

Flapping in the wind, the strips frighten the birds away from fishing vessels reeling out the lines.

"They form a visible deterrent and a no-go zone close to the bait and fishing gear as it's reeled out," explains Graham Madge of the UK Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which co-launched the Albatross Task Force in 2006 with BirdLife International to stop albatrosses being snagged on hooks and drowning as they try to steal bait.

The lines trail for around 150 metres behind the ships. Beyond that, the birds are no longer at risk, as the bait rapidly sinks to depths of up to 60 metres, way beyond the reach of the albatrosses.
Not all at sea

Since the launch of the task force in 2006, the sponsors have built up a team of a dozen specialist instructors who accompany fishing fleets and advise crews on how to deploy the curtains of pink strips.

They also advise on other simple measures to safeguard the birds, such as applying weights to sink lines more rapidly and efficiently, sinking lines at night when albatrosses are less active, and painting bait blue to make it less visible to birds.

Madge says that once they realise that the measures cost very little – just $200 or so per ship – and do not interfere with the fishing process or deplete hauls, fishing crews are very willing to adopt them.
Going global

Now the task force is being extended to cover six other countries, including Ecuador, which has jurisdiction over waters hunted by the critically endangered waved albatross.

As well as persuading crews to implement the measures, the sponsors have been urging governments to change the law to make bird conservation a legal obligation. Last year, for example, South Africa introduced a law specifying that fishing licenses would be withdrawn from any vessels killing 25 or more albatrosses or petrels in a year.

In total, 153 albatrosses and petrels were reported dead by long-line fishing fleets operating in South African waters last year, but this was 85% lower than the 2007 toll, before introduction of the measures.

"It's not down to zero, but by working with governments and fisheries, we've made it so it becomes much less of a threat to albatrosses and petrels," says Madge.