Albatross in trouble

Forest and Bird, Volume 22, Issue 2, 1 May 1991, Page 12

Albatross in trouble

by Forest and Bird conservation officer

Alan Tennyson

In the November 1990 issue of Forest & Bird conservation officer Alan Tennyson revealed that thousands of albatrosses were being killed in the southern ocean each year by fishing practices. The fishing industry accused the Society of alarmist and unfounded reports. Now an independent report has documented the extent of the seabird mortality. Its findings? Unfortunately, just as serious as predicted.

S EABIRD EXPERT Sandy Bartle paints a grim picture for the future of albatrosses affected by fishing. In a report (in preparation at the time of writing) he predicts a dramatic decline in the population of the white-capped albatross — one of New Zealand's most striking endemic birds — due to trawling around the Auckland Islands. Using data from MAF observers collected during the 1989-1990 Auckland Islands squid fishing season, the National Museum scientist’s report shows an alarming number of birds killed. Based on the average number of birds caught per boat per day, a minimum estimate of 1,700 white-capped albatrosses were killed last season. However, the report states this estimate should be "doubled to allow for corpses lost from the net and for birds which subsequently die as a result of injuries but are not entangled in trawl gear and recovered." It seems at least 3,400 birds died last season.

Highest mortality

The worst incident on record was when 231 white-capped albatrosses were killed by one trawler during one month of fishing. Up to 17 albatrosses have been killed during a single

net retrieval. Typically, about 10,000 trawl tows are made in this fishery each season. However, only half this number were carried out last season because of poor squid catches. Twice as many birds probably die in normal fishing years. The white-capped albatross (or mollymawk, a term used for several of the smaller albatrosses) found at the Auckland Islands, has an estimated population of 64,000 pairs. It is a separate race from the only other white-capped albatross population, known from islands off Tasmania where there are about 3,500 pairs. Albatrosses have high adult survival rates, at greater than 90 percent per year, and low reproductive rates, raising a maximum of one chick each year. Their populations are very sensitive to changes in mortality rates and an increase in adult mortality can have serious consequences. For wandering albatrosses, an increase in mean adult mortality of only 2-4 percent has been enough to cause worldwide population declines of up to 50 percent dur- » ing the last 20 years. The report states that the accelerated mortality caused by the fishery will result in a serious population decline. The white-capped albatross is the main victim of the fishery, because of its abundance on the Aucklands’ shelf. Flocks of 2-3,000 are commonly seen following the fishing fleet. About 50 squid trawlers ply the waters around the subantarctic Auckland Islands between January and May. Half the fleet are Soviet boats but nearly all foreign licensed boats are chartered by New Zealand companies. The fleet is well known for its annual kill of Hooker's sea lions but the bird deaths are just as serious. Soviet trawlers cause nearly all of the albatross deaths. These boats have a monitor cable running from the ship to the net which the more modern vessels in the fleet do not have.

A gruesome death

The report graphically illustrates how birds meet a gruesome death. "...Most birds died as a result of collision with the headline netsonde monitor wire, which extends from the top of the aft gantry (near the boat’s stern) to up to 20 m behind the boat. The wire is 7 mm in diameter and very stiff, so that it whips up and down as the boat pitches in the swell. It is grey, and very hard to see on overcast days and in twilight.

Albatrosses feeding behind trawlers have their eyes set on offal ... they fail to see the monitor wire and crash into it." ".,,Albatrosses which are killed by the monitor wire are generally wrapped around it with a broken or even torn off wing. They also get snagged on stiff broken strands which are common on worn parts of the monitor cable." "Albatross carcases which do not get snagged slide down the stiff monitor wire like oceanographic messenger weights, accumulating in clumps at a joint just above the headline monitor itself, Others drop back into the bellylines when the net is hauled ... further corpses drop off the wire earlier ... and yet more are seen falling from the monitor wire as it passes over the gantry during hauling." Autopsies revealed that the "cause of death appeared to have been drowning, mostly associated with fresh serious injuries (broken wings, legs, bills, etc) in conformity with having collided with and becoming entangled in trawl gear."

But the threat to the white-capped albatross does not end there. This species is one of the most commonly drowned on Asian bluefin tuna longlines each year in Australasian waters. The thousands that are thought to be killed in this fishery each year compound the seriousness of the trawler kills. Moreover, pigs liberated years ago on the Auckland Islands have largely destroyed the colony on the main island.

Vessel ban called for

The report concludes that trawlers fitted with netsonde monitor cables (those responsible for the high bird mortality) cannot be permitted to continue to fish around the Auckland Islands. Forest and Bird believes the albatross deaths are a national disgrace. They are avoidable and should have been stopped years ago. Failure to take action on this problem reflects poorly on the industry and on the Minister of Fisheries. The proposed trawler exclusion zone of 60 nautical miles radius around the islands for

the protection of Hooker's sea lion would greatly reduce the bird kill problem. However, the deadly monitor cables are in use in many oceans around the world. Off the Kerguelen Islands in the South Indian Ocean, blackbrowed mollymawks are being killed by similar trawlers and the population there has declined. Soviet trawlers fishing around the Snares Islands have killed white-capped and Buller's albatrosses. The same trawlers fishing for southern blue whiting off New Zealand's subantarctic Campbell and Bounty Islands are likely to cause similar problems for other albatross populations. The albatross deaths have attracted attention at international forums. Last year the International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP), called on national fishing authorities to ban trawlers using the outdated net monitor cables from their economic zones. The mounting pressure from the Department of Conservation (DoC), Ministry of Fisheries (MAF) and Forest and Bird has achieved some changes. New Zealand companies such as Sealord Products Ltd, Independent Fisheries Ltd and Amalgamated Marketing Ltd, which charter the Soviet ships fishing around the Auckland Islands, have modified their net monitor cable systems. They have lowered the cable so it is closer to the water and less likely to hit the birds. Unfortunately, the new system has failed to eliminate the bird deaths and by February 1991 — just a week or two into the fishing season — bags of dead albatrosses were arriving at the National Museum. Despite the efforts of fishing companies, there is clearly only one solution — vessels using the cables must be prohibited from fishing within our economic zone.

The jigger solution

ROUND SOUTHERN New Zealand, the bright glow on the horizon from squid fishing fleets is a characteristic feature of summer and autumn nights. The vessels in these fleets are called jiggers, which use an unusual fishing method to catch their quarry. That same bright glow could be a ray of hope for albatrosses and Hooker's sea lions, under siege from squid trawlers around New Zealand's subantarctic islands. Forest and Bird is advocating replacing the trawlers with jiggers. Because jiggers don’t use nets or baited hooks, they catch few non-target species. The squid attack lures and are snagged on unbarbed hooks. Large vessels use 2,000 of these lures at a time. Once hooked, the squid are carried out of the water on automatically operated lines, dropped off into netting then slid down into a gutter where they are collected for packing. Squid seek shelter in the shadow underneath the vessels to escape the glare of the lights. Many squid, including the target Nototodarus species, live at greater depths during the day, normally only coming closer to the surface to feed at night. Of all foreign fleets in New Zealand waters, the squid fishing fleet is the largest. During the 1989/90 season, Japan had six trawlers and 42 jiggers, Korea had 11 trawlers and 42 jiggers and the Soviet Union had 27 trawlers and four

jiggers targeting squid. Forest and Bird believes only jigging vessels should be permitted to fish around the Auckland Islands because the trawlers slaughter sea lions, fur seals, albatrosses and petrels. Trawling is threatening the survival of two species, Hooker's sea lion and the whitecapped albatross. Forest and Bird has prepared a comprehensive report proposing a 60 nautical mile (100Km) radius Auckland Island marine mammal sanctuary from which trawlers would be excluded. Squid fishing could continue within the sanctuary provided the jigging method was used. The fishing industry has claimed that jigging vessels cannot work around the Auckland Islands because of the rough waters. However, the facts do not support their claims. e During the 1989/90 season, New Zealand waters were fished by 45 jiggers that were larger than some of the squid trawlers fishing around the Auckland Islands last year. The largest

of these jiggers was three times larger than nine of the 44 trawlers working around the Auckland Islands. It cannot be argued, therefore, that the waters around the Aucklands are too dangerous for jiggers because of their allegedly smaller size. Many jiggers working around the Falkland Islands in the subantarctic South Atlantic are even larger and could be chartered to work in New Zealand waters. These very large jiggers often pass through New Zealand waters on their way to the Falklands. e Jiggers are used in areas of rough water in foreign fisheries and within the New Zealand 200 mile EEZ. In the 1989/90 season at least 78 percent of all jiggers working in New Zealand waters worked in the subantarctic, including 522 fishing days around the remote Bounty Platform and Pukaki Rise. In the 1986/87 season, the Snares shelf was the most important squid jigging area. @ Jiggers have worked around the Auckland Islands in the past and some jigging was even carried out in the 1989/90 season. So why does the fishing industry dispute the fact that jiggers can work around the Auckland Islands? The answer is economics. Trawlers can catch more squid than jiggers (although squid caught through jigging is usually better quality and therefore fetches a higher price). The ecological costs of trawling, including the deaths of hundreds of sea lions and thousands of albatrosses, are ignored. pt

What you can do

Write to the Ministers of Conservation and Fisheries, Parliament Buildings, Wellington, asking them to ban trawlers using the deadly monitor cables in New Zealand waters.