International Mitigation Mentoring Programme
The formation of our expert referral group is a significant milestone for the International Mitigation Mentoring Programme (IMMP).
The programme was established last year to provide feedback and advice to fishers and other inventors with ideas or prototypes that may reduce the risk of seabirds being caught by commercial or recreational fishers.
Tasmania-based environmental consultant Barry Baker was appointed as the Mitigation Mentor last year and has been working steadily since to get a referral group established and a work programme underway.
He says it’s about nurturing good ideas and bringing them to fruition.
“There are many ideas running around in the heads of fishermen, and others, that have the potential to radically reduce the bycatch of seabirds in fisheries,” he says.
“The mitigation mentor programme looks to capture these ideas and provide the support and encouragement needed for them to be developed, refined, tested and ultimately widely adopted by fishers.
“If we can do this and come up with workable mitigation measures, it will substantially improve the conservation status of many of the world’s seabirds.”
Members of the Referral Group include:
*Phil Ashworth - Amerro Engineering, Australia
*John Cleal - Deepwater Group, New Zealand
*Marco Favero – Chair, ACAP Advisory Committee; Head of Vertebrate
Research Group at the National University of Mar del Plata (Argentina)
*Eric Gilman - fisheries research scientist, Hawaii Pacific University
*Dave Kellian - fisherman and inventor, New Zealand
*Dave Kreutz - Oceanwatch, Australian
*Svein Lokkeborg - Institute of Marine Research, Norway
*Ed Melvin- Washington Sea Grant, University of Washington, USA
*Graham Robertson, Australian Antarctic Division, Australia
*Barrie Rose - bycatch mitigation consultant, South Africa
Barry Baker says that in the past few weeks he has been working with Hans Jusseit of Oceansmart. Hans is the inventor of the Smart Tuna Hook, a shield designed for use in pelagic longline gear, which works by covering baited hooks with a shield that’s held in place by an alloy pin. The shield prevents seabirds getting to the hook but within minutes of being set, seawater corrodes the alloy pin. The shield then falls off at depths deeper than seabirds can dive, exposing the baited hook to catch fish.
“The Smart Tuna Hook has been trialled in tuna fisheries in Australia and found to be operationally effective, but further testing is planned to demonstrate its effectiveness against a suite of seabird species such as white-chinned petrels, shearwaters and albatrosses in other fisheries,” says Barry.
If you want to contact Barry, he can be emailed at barry.baker@latitude42.com.au.
The International Mitigation Mentoring Programme is sponsored by Sealord, WWF, Sanford, Encounter Foundation and Maersk Line.
Photo below of Dave Kellian, Referral Group member, on Skipper Exchange in Peru.
Fishing for Ideas
Most of the Trust’s work has been with commercial fishers to date – but we’re branching out! A major programme for us in the year ahead involves working with recreational fishers to build awareness of seabirds and bycatch, and to gather mitigation ideas from people out on the water.
To launch that work we’re running a competition to attract promising ideas from recreational fishers. It’s called ‘Fishing for Ideas’, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We want to find out about tips, techniques and devices being used to keep seabirds away from fishing boats.
Fishers taking part can reel in some great prizes. Leigh fisherman Geordie Murman is offering a trip for four people on-board Ocean Ranger, targeting Hauraki Gulf snapper and kingfish. Two runners up will each win a pack of Berkley® fishing gear worth $250 plus a petrol voucher to the value of $250 each.
There’s also the added incentive of having those good ideas selected for further development and testing by the Trust’s international mitigation mentoring programme.
There’s one catch: you have to be a New Zealand resident, as the Trust is currently focusing on seabird interactions in New Zealand’s recreational fishing waters. We know anecdotally that seabirds are great fish-finders out on the water but also that they get in the way of a good day’s fishing by taking the bait, and of course, place themselves in harm’s way.
This is an opportunity for recreational fishers to come up with ideas that will make a real difference to seabirds and improve their own fishing experience.
Visit our recreational fishing page or email our recreational fishing liaison person, Cam Speedy, at ngakowhai@xtra.co.nz.
We’re hoping to hold a workshop in Auckland in December to bring together members of the recreational fishing and wider community to discuss seabirds and fishing, and to plan a way forward. The winner of ‘Fishing for Ideas’ will be announced then.
Fishing for Ideas is sponsored by The Lion Foundation and Te Ohu Kaimoana, with prizes donated by Geordie Murman, Ocean Ranger – and Berkley®.
And you can see Geordie Murman out on his boat in an episode of TV3’s Gone Fishin’ programme, hosted by Trustee and experienced fisher Graeme Sinclair. They spotted some special birds on their trip. If you’re in New Zealand, you can watch the episode here on TV3’s website (the seabirds make an appearance around 13 minutes into the episode).
Photo below of a Flesh-footed shearwater, courtesy of Dennis Buurman Photography.
Seabird Smart Training Programme
The Trust is embarking on a "seabird smart" expertise-building programme with New Zealand's commercial inshore fishers. The programme will be delivered through a series of workshops where fishers will learn about the lives of seabirds they see around their vessels, and gain a deeper understanding of the impact of fishing on seabird populations. Fishers will discuss the "current best practice" mitigation methods and practices for their fishing method and commit to using these as a collective.
The content of the workshops will be tailored to fit each fishing fleet. This includes consideration of the seabird interactions each fleet encounters (due to their fishing method and location) and what specific "seabird smart" practices are likely to work best for their vessels.
Our hope is that fishers will leave the workshops with a greater understanding and interest in seabirds, an understanding of "seabird smart" fishing practices suitable for their fishing method, and a strong motivation to use these at all times. Assessments of the effectiveness of the workshops in motivating fishers and changing their attitudes and behaviour will be carried out in tandem with this project. The workshops will be an important step towards building a "seabird smart" reputation for the New Zealand fishing industry.
This project is sponsored by the Ministry of Fisheries, the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council, the Department of Conservation and Sanford Ltd.
Spreading the Word
The DeepWater Group has been proactively addressing incidental seabird captures by its deepwater trawl fleet using Vessel Management Plans (VMPs) and now the concept is being adopted by the South African trawl fleet and parts of the trawl fleet in Australia.
Southern Seabird Solutions Management Committee member Richard Wells, who’s a fisheries specialist with the DeepWater Group, has spent several years working with New Zealand’s deep water trawl fleet to manage and reduce risks to seabirds.
He’s heartened by the uptake of the VMP, which he says is an effective risk management tool for the industry. It works for three reasons, he says: it is vessel-specific, promising nothing the vessel cannot achieve, it is documented in a structured and clear way, and it can be and is audited.
“We’ve aimed to keep these VMPs as structured as possible so they’re applicable to all vessels in our fleet,” he says. “It’s great that other fleet operators are also starting to use them.”
The standard VMP provides guidance about reducing seabird interactions with deepwater fresh fish and factory trawlers, ensuring these vessels have documented processes for offal management and discharge, how the vessel crew is actively involved in seabird mitigation, how relevant information about the vessel’s seabird interactions is being recorded and reported, internal vessel review processes and finally a list of the mandatory seabird-scaring devices they are using.
Southern Seabird Solutions Trust convenor Janice Molloy says the decision by deepwater trawl fleets in South Africa and South East Australia to adapt the New Zealand VMP to their particular vessels and needs is a real credit to the DeepWater Group’s work in this area.
With the assistance of WWF and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Southern Seabird Solutions helped facilitate the VMP connection between the Deepwater Group and South Africa and Australia.
If you’d like to find out more, email Richard Wells at Richard@resourcewise.co.nz.
Photo below courtesy of John Cleal.
Recording our history
We’ve been around for nearly 10 years now and it’s time to record our beginnings and journey to our current work programme and relationships. Communications manager Cushla Managh is working with convenor Janice Molloy on a history of Southern Seabird Solutions – and we’d love your input! If you have any photos or stories that you think deserve a place in the archives, email Cushla at info@southernseabirds.org. We’re hoping the Trust’s history will also be of value to other people and groups internationally who are thinking of building collaborative relationships with fishing industries, NGOs, government agencies, researchers and so on.
The Trust history project is sponsored by WWF.
Promoting the seabird smart fishing concept
The NZ Federation of Commercial Fishermen held a half-day session on seabirds this year at their annual conference. The session was opened with a photo essay of albatrosses by world-renowned wildlife photographer Kim Westerskov. This set the scene for presentations by the DeepWater Group, Department of Conservation and Southern Seabird Solutions. We outlined the Seabird Smart Fishermen's Programme that Southern Seabird Solutions will be rolling out, and proposed the idea of New Zealand fishermen working collectively to build a seabird smart reputation in their markets and with the New Zealand public.
Bill Mansfield, Chair of the Trust, gave a similar message at the annual Seafood Industry Council Conference held in Wellington. Bill described the progress the fishing industry has made to date, and outlined the steps that would need to be taken to achieve a seabird smart reputation.
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