Tag Archives: longline fishing gear
Greenpeace Seizes (Steals) Longline Fishing Gear to Highlight Threat to Sharks
Greenpeace is warning of the effects of industrial longline fishing on shark populations after its activists confiscated fishing gear from two vessels in the North Atlantic, one of which was operating in a Marine Protected Area. The NGO announced that its activists aboard the Arctic Sunrise operating in the North Atlantic waters confiscated 30 kilometers of industrial fishing gear and 286 hooks from two European industrial longline fishing vessels, Segundo Ribeland Siempre Perla. The longliner vessels from Spain were fishing for sharks and swordfish. >click to read< 11:18
Collaborative project between researchers, fishermen aims to reduce West Coast seabird bycatch
A collaborative project between researchers and the West Coast sablefish fishing industry is showing promise for reducing the number of seabirds caught in longline fishing gear, in particular several albatross species including one threatened with extinction. The combination of using streamer lines (also called bird-scaring lines) to protect longline fishing gear from seabird attacks on baits, and setting hooks at night when the birds are less active can significantly reduce seabird mortality, the researchers say. click here to read the story 12:39
How False killer whale’s remove bait from longline fishing gear captured on video for first time
How Hawaiian false killer whales remove fish from longline fishing gear has for the first time been observed by a team of researchers and fishermen. The team, coordinated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego scientist Aaron Thode, used video and audio recordings to observe false killer whales removing fish from a longline fishing hook, a behavior known as depredation. They gained new insight into a behavior that has caused false killer whales to entangle with fishing gear at rates deemed unsustainable by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. To observe false killer whales removing fish from hooks, the Alaskan and Hawaiian research team deployed an underwater camera, sound recorder, and vibration detector on long-line fishing gear deployed by fishing vessels off Hawaii. Read the article here 16:40
