National Geographic

As the sun sets on Marion Island’s western shore,a quartet of wandering albatrosses breaks outin the species’ ritual dance, a complex suite of callsand gestures, including a “sky calling” displayfrom the bird at right. Wandering albatrossesmate for life, and the dancing behavior, typicallyperformed by subadults, helps individualssize up prospective partners.$10,000 bills, which is what a bluefin tuna rep-resents,” Wanless said—a potentially strongerincentive is the market for sustainably harvestedfish. Pursuit of this premium market, particularlyin Europe, has already led many South Africanfishing vessels to pay for independent observers,to ensure compliance with bycatch rules. With-out an observer on board, even a captain like vanAntwerpen may be tempted to break the rules.The best way for a government to ensure com-pliance is to mandate that every vessel be outfit-ted with a digital camera to monitor its catch andbycatch. When Australia did this with its tropicaltuna-fishing fleet, in 2016, ship captains placedpanicked calls to Australian regulators, askingwhere they could buy bird-scaring lines. “Oncethere’s a camera on board, the game’s over,” Wan-less said. “You’re risking losing your license forfailing to buy a hundred dollars’ worth of gear.”Another promising technological advance isthe Hookpod, which consists of a hard plasticcase that snaps around a baited hook, protect-ing the bait from birds and birds from the hook,and doesn’t spring open until it has sunk to asafe depth. It is theoretically possible, by makingthe Hookpod standard equipment on all long-line vessels, and by requiring all trawlers to runbird-scaring lines, and by simply banning gill netfishing (as South Africa has done), to render theworld’s oceans safe for seabirds. For now, though,the global situation remains atrocious. Wanlessand Angel have expanded their outreach to thefisheries of South America, Korea, and Indone-sia, with not altogether discouraging results, butthe fleets of China and Taiwan, which togetheraccount for two-thirds of fishing vessels on thehigh seas, operate with little or no regard for sea-bird mortality, and they sell their catch in mar-kets mostly indiferent to sustainability.Wanless estimates that 300,000 seabirds,including 100,000 albatrosses, continue to bekilled annually by long-liners alone. This is hardenough on the abundant species, like sooty shear-waters. But many species of albatrosses, which areslow to reach maturity and typically breed only inalternate years, are threatened with extinction.And, as harmful as modern fishing practices are,there’s an even deadlier threat that seabirds face.``````SEABIRDS 131