Photo:L.Guerin/WikimediaWe must act now to prevent the world's seabirds from sliding towards extinction, that's the message that Huw Irranca-Davies, the UK's Fisheries Minister, will deliver to his European counterparts at the November Fisheries Council meeting.The minister will remind colleagues at the Brussels meeting that European fisheries, both in EU waters and on the high seas beyond the EU's shores, take a massive toll of seabirds through falling foul of a variety of fishing gears. Every year in European waters alone, an estimated 200,000 seabirds are snared, entangled and drowned on longline hooks and in trawls and gill-nets.
Backed by the RSPB and BirdLife International, the Minister will be urging the Commission to propose early in 2010 an ambitious and robust Community Plan of Action to reduce the incidental catch of seabirds in fisheries wherever EU vessels fish at home and overseas. The Minister will also call for emergency measures for the most threatened species like the Balearic shearwater, listed as Critically Endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and a victim of longline fishing in the Mediterranean.
Halt this loss
UK fisheries Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies said, "It is a tragedy that so many seabirds are lost each year in fishing operations. This is putting a considerable strain on some seabird populations and we must all strive to halt this loss. Good work is taking place in the Southern Oceans but action in Europe is long overdue. I wholeheartedly support the need for an EU Seabird Plan of Action. It must be robust with a clear timetable and commitment to action and prioritise work on those species most threatened.
"The UK is committed to taking action and at November Council I will be urging the Commission to introduce a Plan of Action as a matter of urgency".
The RSPB and BirdLife International believe the European Commission has sat on its hands on the seabird bycatch issue for the past ten years, consistently failing to meet its own deadlines for action until now. Meanwhile, huge strides have been made by many other countries around the world in introducing simple technical fixes which prevent seabirds coming into contact with and being killed by fishing gears, with minimal disruption to the fishing activity of vessels.
Dr Euan Dunn is the head of the RSPB's marine policy team. He said, "For far too long there has been paralysis at the heart of Europe over acting to prevent the fatal attraction of seabirds to fishing gears. As we fast approach 2010, the year in which Europe's leaders committed to halt the loss of biodiversity on land and at sea, we applaud the UK Minister for championing concerted action to safeguard Europe's seabirds. "
Under siege from fisheries
The EU seabird action plan will follow new international guidelines in addressing all fishing gears that take an incidental catch of seabirds – longlines, trawls and gill-nets. BirdLife has identified hotspots in Europe where vulnerable seabird populations are under siege from fisheries, notably the Mediterranean for longline fisheries and the Baltic for gill-net fisheries.
A single longline fishery on the Gran Sol grounds off the west coast of Ireland takes an alarming toll of 50,000 seabirds every year. The EU plan will also address the impact of the EC's distant water fleets, especially those of Spain, which target high-value species like tuna swordfish and toothfish in the south Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The UK has an enormous responsibility for seabirds. About seven million seabirds of 25 species breed in the UK, representing over half of the European total. Globally, the UK's Overseas Territories host a third of all of the world's breeding albatrosses, the most threatened group of birds in the world, with fisheries inflicting by far the heaviest losses.
Although not a breeding bird in the UK, the Balearic shearwater is increasingly ranging into UK waters, where it is a regular visitor to the English Channel, driven northwards by food shortages furthers south.
