Gannet and Seabird Bycatch Welfare in Fisheries

Seabirds including gannets, puffins, razorbills, and shearwaters are caught as bycatch in fishing gear globally. Hundreds of thousands of seabirds are killed annually in longline and gill net fisheries.

Key Facts

An estimated 320,000 seabirds are killed as bycatch in longline fisheries each year globally
Gannets are attracted to baited hooks and can dive to over 20 metres to reach them
Seabird bycatch mitigation measures including tori lines and weighted lines are effective and low-cost
17 of the 22 albatross species are threatened with extinction primarily due to bycatch

Welfare Considerations

Seabirds caught on longline hooks or in gillnets drown slowly over periods of minutes to hours, causing significant suffering. Entanglement in nets causes wing and leg injuries that prevent normal flight and diving. Birds caught on hooks may survive but suffer from hook injuries that prevent feeding and lead to starvation. The scale of seabird bycatch represents a major welfare harm to some of the worlds most charismatic and long-lived birds, many of which breed only once every two years.

What You Can Do

Choose fish products certified by the Marine Stewardship Council with seabird bycatch mitigation requirements
Support organisations working on seabird bycatch reduction including BirdLife International and RSPB
Advocate for mandatory use of bird-scaring lines and other mitigation on fishing vessels
Support international agreements on seabird bycatch mitigation under the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels