Protecting Birds from Longline Fishing Dangers

In longline fishing, fishermen lay out lines in the sea that can be up to 130 km long with 3,000 hooks trailing from them. Unfortunately, birds are attracted to the baited hooks and get caught before the lines sink below the surface. It is estimated that longline fishing is responsible for approximately 180,000 seabird deaths each year. Defenders, in collaboration with Environmental Defense Fund, wrote an international resolution to protect seabirds from longline fisheries which was adopted at a meeting of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in October 1996. Following this international resolution, the Pacific Longline Fishing Association has applied stronger regulations to avoid unnecessary seabird deaths.