Out-thinking sea birds.
Sea birds follow fishing boats - it’s an inevitable feature of working in a natural environment.
They can’t be reasoned with and they are relentless in their search for an easy meal.
Scare to save
The fishing industry has employed a number of mitigating actions to reduce bird by-catch.
All boats in the fleet are required by law to feature bird-scaring streamer systems to scare birds away from baited hooks until they disappear under water behind the boat. Non-compliance can result in massive fines or boat confiscations, and as such streamers are standard non-negotiable gear for every boat and every setting.
Along with other initiatives like weighted lines and sinkers to speed the deployment of hooks and bait underwater, to in-boat deployment troughs, to low light or night time setting to reduce bird visibility, the industry has achieved substantial and continuous reductions in bird by-catch over time.
Hooking up with Hookpods.
Hookpod is an easy-to-use hook shielding innovation that has been demonstrated to stop seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries with no negative impact on target catch rates.
Bycatch in longline fishing is recognised as the primary threat driving several species of albatross toward extinction.
Hookpod has the backing of governments and the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) as the only standalone seabird bycatch mitigation measure and is endorsed by fishers and conservationists alike.