Cornwall Seabird Bycatch Mitigation Project
What is the Project?
The Cornwall Bycatch Project is a partnership between the RSPB , Birdlife International, Cornwall Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (Cornwall IFCA), Natural England (NE), and Cornish gillnet fishers.
The project, which launches winter 2021, will be testing the use of looming eye buoys and predator shaped kites in gillnet fisheries and assessing their effectiveness in keeping seabirds away from gillnets. These measures will hopefully reduce their bycatch, making Cornwall’s seas safer for the seabirds that call it home, and support sustainable fishing.
What is bycatch?
The unwanted fish and other marine creatures (including birds and marine mammals) trapped by commercial fishing nets or long lines during fishing for a different species. Globally seabirds are threatened by several issues and at sea this includes bycatch from fishing for some species. It is estimated that 400,000 birds are killed in gillnet fisheries globally each year, half of which occurs in the eastern north Atlantic.
Where and how will the project be carried out?
The UK provides a home to internationally important populations of seabirds throughout the year. This project will focus on the Fal Bay to St Austell Bay Special Protection Area (SPA), an internationally important wintering site for great northern and black-throated divers and Slavonian grebes.
Paramount to this project is working together with the commercial fishing sector and Cornwall IFCA, who will be carrying out the at sea monitoring. Fishers will set ‘paired nets’ – one with the looming eye buoys and predator shaped kites attached and one without, to test their success as seabird bycatch deterrents. The project will run across two winters, and the results are expected in April 2023.
What species does this project aim to help?
Great northern diver, cormorant, European shag, common guillemot, razorbill, black-throated diver, and Slavonian grebe. The purpose of this project is to identify practical solutions to prevent or reduce bycatch to improve the sustainability of gillnet fisheries not just in Cornwall, but elsewhere across the world with this problem, so it has the potential to help a lot of different seabird species.
Have any similar projects been tested elsewhere?
Birdlife international carried out a trial of these deterrent devices in Estonia. The trials demonstrated that the looming-eyes buoy device deterred long-tailed ducks (and potentially other seabirds) in a 50 m radius, by about 25%. If deployed alongside gillnets in Cornish waters, the project hopes they will also reduce bycatch.
How is this project being funded?
The project has received a £50k funding boost from the DEFRA G7 Legacy Fund which will help launch the project in November 2021. The funding will enable the purchase of the buoys and predator kites, as well as help the partnership team engage with local fishers who would like to be part of this exciting research project.
Who should I contact?
Paul St Pierre Conservation Officer RSPB: paul.stpierre@rspb.org.uk
Colin Trundle Cornwall IFCA: colin.trundle@cornwall-ifca.gov.uk
FAQ What is Bycatch? The unwanted fish and other marine creatures (including birds and marine mammals) trapped by commercial fishing nets or long lines during fishing for a different species.
What seabirds are vulnerable to bycatch? Different seabirds are vulnerable to bycatch from different types of fishing gear. Globally, albatross species and also some petrels are vulnerable to longlining and trawling ( https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/policy-insight/marine-and-coastal/saving-seabirds-globally/the-albatross-task-force/ ). Species such as seaduck, divers, auks, cormorant and shag are vulnerable to the practice of gillnetting which occurs in our coastal waters where these birds occur.
What is this project about? Providing safer seas for seabirds through creating tools to reduce or eliminate bycatch. The project is researching the effectiveness of “Looming Eyes” and predator-shaped kite technology, as a potential measure to reduce seabird bycatch caused by gillnet fishing.
What species will potentially benefit? The species that regularly use the study area that have been observed in bycatch events historically include great northern diver, cormorant, European shag, common guillemot and razorbill. These can all potentially benefit, along with black-throated diver and Slavonian grebe that also use the area in significant numbers.
Why do you think this might work? Birdlife International carried out a trial of this idea in Estonia ( https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/bizarre-floating-gadget-could-save-seabirds-lives ). Those trials demonstrated that the Looming-eyes buoy device can deter Long-tailed Ducks (and potentially other seaducks/birds) in a 50 m radius, by about 25%. If deployed alongside gillnets, those could - in theory - reduce bycatch by the same order of magnitude, if not more, given that most seabirds do not travel more than 30/40m horizontally between dives. Those trials confirmed the proof of concept.
What are "looming eyes"? Looming-eyes buoys are bobbing scarecrows, which look like a pair of googly eyes attached to a pole that is fitted to a buoy.
Will this help other seabirds in a similar bycatch situation around the UK/world? This is hard to say until further trials are conducted. However, the sensory/cognitive and behaviour principles that informed the Looming-eyes buoy design are however believed to be similar across the species involved (e.g. detection range, diving range, aversion to visual stimuli, looming effect, etc.). This device was built to be effective across various “vulnerable to gillnet bycatch” seabird species such as seaducks, guillemots, divers, cormorants/shag, etc. As such, this device could be used in other gillnet fisheries – whether it is in the UK, European or Global fisheries.
Who is involved? The project is a partnership between the RSPB, Cornwall IFCA, and Natural England. The RSPB will provide the methodology for the study and the Cornwall IFCA will run the field trails alongside fishers in the area. NE and Defra will be providing additional support and advice.
Where is the project being carried out? The project focus is the Fal Bay to St Austell Bay SPA , Cornwall. Although the project area has been defined there may be an opportunity to trial the measures in the St Ives Bay and Mount’s Bay areas where similar species occur, and fisheries operate. This will be considered to improve data collection, if funders allow, fishers are interested, and it does not compromise the quality of the data.
When will you know the results? The project is to run for two years so it is likely that we will have the results by April 2023 but this will be dependent on funding.
Will bycatch occur during the project? The project will deliver the first UK trials of the novel Looming Eye Buoy and predator-shaped kites bycatch mitigation devices in an active fishery. The bycatch occurrences in this fishery will be formally documented, providing a better understanding of the current situation and gathering important data that can be analysed and used to inform future management decisions. When bycatch occurs during this trial the Steering Group will adopt an adaptive management approach, using the data that is being collected to adapt the trial as necessary to ensure that as much valuable information as possible is collected in order to implement effective management which will improve the long-term prospects of the bird populations. As part of the Steering Group members’ commitment to fully understanding bycatch in this fishery, where possible autopsies on bycaught marine mammals will be carried out by James Barnett of the Marine Stranding Network (Cornwall). In addition, efforts will be made to autopsy bycaught seabirds to record their sex, age and origin.
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