Tuna and Albatrosses Die Together
|
Posted by Rosemary Drisdelle Jan 28, 2007 |
Last week, the Joint Meeting of the Tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations took place in Japan. The threat posed to tuna stocks by over fishing and illegal fishing was on the agenda, and for BirdLife International, so was the connected threat to albatrosses. Long line fishing takes too many tuna and other fish, too much bycatch, and drags albatrosses under until they drown. The delegates at the meeting know there’s a problem.
In December, 2006, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission passed new regulations with respect to long line fishing and bird bycatch, but these measures will be phased in over years and not fully in force until 2010. Nineteen endangered species of albatross will have suffered considerable additional losses by then. If the five commissions attending the meeting were to work together, it would make a big difference to both albatrosses and fish stocks.
Read more about the albatross:
Sources:
BirdLife South Africa. "Don't Can Albatrosses, Warns BirdLife at Global Tuna Summit." Jan 24, 2007
BirdLife International. "Pacific Seabird Mitigation Measures 'A Step in the Right Direction.' " Dec 21, 2006
What do you think about this blog?
