An assessment of seabird–fishery interactions in the Atlantic Ocean

By G. Tuck, R. Phillips, C. Small, Russell J. Thomson, N. Klaer, F. Taylor, R. Wanless, H. Arrizabalaga. 2011

114 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Currently, 17 of 22 albatross species are listed as Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Incidental mortality in fisheries is by far the most widespread cause of the population declines observed for these and other closely related species. In 2006, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) requested an assessment of the threat from their fisheries to all seabirds that breed or forage within their jurisdiction. Methods were developed to assess the potential consequences of fishing for more than 60 populations of seabird. The assessment framework involved the identification of at-risk populations, overlap analyses, estimation of total bycatch, and an evaluation of the impact of the bycatch on key selected populations for which there were sufficient data on bird distribution and demography. These were the wandering and black-browed albatrosses of South Georgia and the Atlantic yellow-nosed and Tristan albatrosses of Gough Island. Summary results from the seabird assessment are presented, revealing that ICCAT longline fisheries catch substantial numbers of seabirds, with potentially significant conservation implications. If this mortality is not reduced, the numbers of breeding birds in some populations will continue to decline, threatening their long-term viability.

Subfields: Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1701774155ecfa073a7441d9dd56fd063ff9987a

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. R. Phillips
2. Henri Weimerskirch
3. J. Croxall
4. M. Le Corre
5. A. Hedd
6. A. G. Wood
7. R. Gales
8. B. Lascelles

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. Henri Weimerskirch
2. R. Phillips
3. J. Croxall
4. M. Juan-Jordá
5. H. Murua
6. G. Baker
7. A. Hedd
8. N. Dulvy

Citations in the corpus

• Applying global criteria to tracking data to define important areas for marine conservation (2016, background): “The utility of tracking as a tool to inform marine conservation planning is well-documented, facilitating detailed investigations of the spatial overlap of species and their threats, such as fisheries and marine developments (BirdLife International 2004; Tuck et al., 2011).”
• Report card on ecosystem-based fisheries management in tuna regional fisheries management organizations (2018, background): “Only ICCAT, WCPFC and CCSBT have conducted region- wide spatially explicit assessments of the impacts of their longline fisheries on seabirds (CCSBT, 2015a; Filippi, Waugh, & Nicol, 2010; Tuck et al., 2011; Waugh, Filippi, Kirby, Abraham, & Walker, 2012).”
• The conservation status and priorities for albatrosses and large petrels (2016, background): “48,500 seabirds were killed in 2003–2006 (Klaer, 2012; Tuck et al., 2011).”
• A comprehensive large‐scale assessment of fisheries bycatch risk to threatened seabird populations (2019, background): “Unsustainable levels of bycatch are implicated in declines of many pelagic seabirds (Phillips et al., 2016; Tuck et al., 2011).”
• Spatial scales of marine conservation management for breeding seabirds (2018, background): “Threats from fisheries will only occur where a particular fishery operates, and regulation of such fisheries is most important where fisheries and species vulnerable to interactions co-occur [30].”