UK seabirds including puffins, guillemots, and shearwaters face significant bycatch mortality in longline and gill net fisheries, requiring targeted mitigation measures.
Seabirds caught on longline hooks or in gill nets drown, as they are air-breathing animals unable to escape underwater. Drowning under nets can take minutes to hours depending on the depth and speed of capture. Given that many UK seabird species are already under pressure from climate change and food availability changes, bycatch adds cumulative stress to already strained populations. Individual welfare harm compounds population-level conservation concerns.