WEIMERSKIRCH ET AL, PNAS 2000; OCEAN SENTINEL
ecosystems, from even less food for birds already
struggling to maintain numbers to the indiscriminate
killing of anything – sharks, turtles, dolphins,
seabirds, you name it – that happens to get caught up
in nets and hooks.
Albatross declines, for example, are closely
linked to commercial longline fisheries, as birds
are inadvertently lured by thousands of baited
hooks. While official regulations at least try to limit
damage caused by industrial fishing, those efforts are
undermined by activities that go unchecked, away
from prying eyes.
“Our system is relatively easy to implement,”
says Weimerskirch. “The big problem is the
limited presence of navy
and coast guard ships for
enforcement.”
Even so, it may make
fishers think about who
is watching them before
entering restricted areas or
fishing without a license.
Weimerskirch thinks
it’s unlikely that albatross
informants would be
persecuted by fishers. “The
data-loggers are difficult
to be seen on the bird, the
birds are not very close to the
vessels, there are hundreds ofbirds flying around, and the sea is very rough.” In any
case, by the time a bird was in range of harm, a boat’s
location would already be in the computing cloud.
The researchers have started tests elsewhere,
including Hawaiian and New Zealand waters, and
suggest the tech could be adapted for smaller seabirds- or even turtles and sharks. One thing is clear from
the latest study, though: to be the best spy, age and
species matter. Older birds encountered boats
more frequently than youngsters, while wandering
albatrosses were found to be more attracted to boats
than Amsterdams.
“This new source of data can help drive
governments and fisheries organisations to close
the loop on illegal fishing,” suggests Meeuwig. “And
there is something deliciously ironic that albatrosses - seabirds endangered largely due to industrial
fishing – are highlighting the scale of illegal industrial
fishing activities.
JAMES URQUHART is a science journalist based in
Scotland.A centurion logger (below),
with short GPS antenna and
radar detector at the front,
solar panel and long Argos
antenna for satellite data
transmission.Southern Indian Ocean, with the tracks of Crozet
wandering albatrosses (green), Kerguelen wandering
albatrosses (orange), and Amsterdam albatrosses (blue).
Radar detections are yellow markers. Yellow lines delimit
national economic exclusive zones.Issue 86 COSMOS – 33SURVEILLANCE AT SEA