Hundreds of thousands of seabirds die annually as bycatch in longline and gillnet fisheries, drowning or being struck by vessel propellers in preventable incidents.
Seabird bycatch causes drowning deaths in air-breathing birds, representing significant welfare harm alongside the conservation impact on declining populations. The tragedy is that effective mitigation is available and not expensive: bird-scaring lines (tori lines), setting hooks at night, and using appropriately weighted lines to sink hooks before birds can reach them reduce bycatch by 80-90% in trials. Mandatory adoption by all fishing fleets operating in seabird-rich waters would virtually eliminate this source of mortality and suffering.