Keeping Albatrosses Off the Hook in South African Fisheries

Launched in 2006 as the first team of BirdLife International's Albatross Task Force, BirdLife South Africa's seabird unit works on board fishing vessels to fit and demonstrate low-cost bird-scaring lines that stop albatrosses and petrels being hooked or hit by cables. The approach delivered a 99% reduction in albatross deaths in South Africa's demersal trawl fishery and an 85% cut in seabird bycatch in the foreign longline fleet operating in South African waters. The team manufactures many of its bird-scaring lines in partnership with the Ocean View Association for Persons with Disabilities, turning a conservation tool into local livelihoods.