Longline fishing kills hundreds of thousands of seabirds annually; bird-scaring lines, night setting, and weighted lines significantly reduce mortality.
Seabirds killed in longlines experience drowning deaths after becoming hooked while diving for bait. Albatrosses that lose mates to bycatch suffer disrupted pair bonds and reduced breeding success, with population-level effects on long-lived species with low reproductive rates. Combined mitigation measures that make longline fishing safe for seabirds are available and effective when adopted.