South Africa, signatory to a treaty to protect the imperilled albatross, has ironically not yet adopted a plan of action to stop endangered seabirds being killed by fishing vessels.
”The national plan of action seems to have fallen by the wayside … ” said Samantha Petersen, manager of the Birdlife and World Wildlife Fund Responsible Fisheries Programme.
Each year more than a billion hooks are set by the world’s longline fishing fleets, killing at least 300 000 seabirds, including 100 000 albatrosses.
While pollution, habitat degradation, hunting and natural causes are responsible for seabird numbers dwindling, mortality in fisheries is the worst killer.
Birds such as albatrosses and petrels cover vast distances over oceans, feeding on squid and fish, and scavenging around fishing vessels where they gather to feed on discarded fish and offal.
When fishing boats set a longline, the birds dive and reach baited hooks below the surface, and once caught, the birds are dragged under and drown.
The South African National Plan of Action (NPOA) for Reducing the Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries, in the pipeline since 2003, follows guidelines of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. It sets a target of reducing seabird mortality to below 0,05 birds per thousand hooks.
It proposes setting lines at night, weighting lines so that hooks sink faster, deploying bird-scaring lines and reducing the offal and bycatch discharge, thereby attracting fewer birds.
”Local fishing boats are not complying with these measures. The NPOA makes provision for a fine, but this has never been issued yet, and in serious cases fishermen can even lose their permits,” said Petersen.
She lamented lenient sentences, saying the courts did not seem to take environmental issues seriously.
”They give transgressors a slap on the wrist, and the message sent to the rest of the fleet is: It’s OK, even if you are caught, nothing will happen,” Petersen said.
Theresa Akkers, director of offshore and high-seas fisheries management at the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, said the department had ”prioritised” fisheries policy and the allocation of long-term fishing rights.
”Now that is done we are looking at policy for seals, seabirds and shore birds. We hope that will go to the minister before the end of the year, and the NPOA will dovetail with this. We don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We want the policy out first,” she said.
Akkers said the NPOA might be adopted in early 2007.
Petersen said it is vital to educate consumers so that their food purchases can help the sustainable use of marine resources.
Namibia, South Africa and Angola are looking at ways to limit and ultimately eradicate incidental mortality of seabirds in longline fisheries. Namibia has recently adopted its own NPOA.
”It’s a huge step forward. Now the Namibian and South African governments have to implement the NPOA as a matter of urgency. It is only through the implementation of technical measures into fisheries regulations that we can hope to save these birds from extinction,” Petersen said.
Seabirds from 19 species have been killed by longline fisheries in South Africa’s territorial waters and economic exclusion zone waters.
Of these, nine are albatrosses and seven are petrels.
According to Petersen, the birds are in dire straits, with one species, the Amsterdam albatross, critically endangered with only 13 pairs alive.
In 1975 there were about 200 000 black-browed albatrosses breeding in South Georgia island in the south west Atlantic. Now there only about 25 000, said Petersen, suggesting that the birds are declining at nearly 5% a year.
Petersen said South Africa is in a unique position, being washed by the warm Agulhas and cold Benguela sea currents. The Benguela current is prized by commercial companies for it fisheries, but is also one of the world’s most important feeding areas for 13 species of albatross and petrel. — Sapa