Longline fishing kills hundreds of thousands of seabirds annually as birds dive for baited hooks - proven mitigation measures can dramatically reduce this preventable mortality.
Seabird longline bycatch welfare involves acute drowning deaths as birds are pulled underwater by heavy lines after taking baited hooks. Birds that manage to free themselves before lines sink may still sustain hook injuries causing infection and death. The scale - 300,000 birds annually - represents enormous preventable welfare harm. The mitigation toolkit is well-established and effective; the challenge is implementation across the many fishing fleets operating in international waters. CCAMLR's mandatory mitigation requirements in Antarctic waters demonstrate that regulatory approaches work when compliance is enforced. Consumer choices influencing which fishing certification schemes gain market share create economic incentives for adoption.