Seabirds including albatrosses and petrels are caught and drowned in longline fisheries globally. Simple mitigation measures dramatically reduce seabird bycatch with minimal cost to fisheries.
Seabird bycatch causes both welfare harm and conservation damage. Drowning is a stressful death for birds adapted to surface and aerial environments. The welfare and conservation case for mitigation is strong, and the available measures are simple, low-cost, and highly effective. The primary barrier to universal adoption is insufficient regulatory requirement and enforcement, making advocacy for mandatory mitigation a high-impact action for both seabird welfare and conservation.