“A Seabird Guide for Fishermen” prepared by the EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater project team has been adopted as the basis for an international poster for fishermen following its presentation at an international meeting in Madrid last week.

Ray Caruana of the Malta Centre for Fisheries Sciences (MCFS) presented the guide to the participants together with an important paper on the accidental by-catch of seabirds in Maltese waters by MCFS science staff. The paper is the first of its kind in the Mediterranean and was warmly received by the international delegates.

Mr Caruana was attending the ICCAT sub-committee meeting (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna) on behalf of MCFS and the Yelkouan Shearwater Project. The project is a partnership of government authorities, international conservation organisations and BirdLife Malta.

One of its key aims is to reduce the number of shearwaters that are accidentally caught by fishermen. The first step was to find out the extent of the problem in Maltese waters and the preliminary results of this effort were detailed in the paper. Raising awareness through initiatives such as the Seabird Guide has also been key.

Seabird by-catch is a serious threat to bird populations across the world. Since Malta has around 10 per cent of the world’s population of Yelkouan Shearwaters and five per cent of Cory’s Shearwaters, project partners are taking their responsibility seriously to understand and deal with this threat to prevent a serious decline of these birds. Fortunately, there are simple measures that fishermen can take to ensure that they catch fish not birds, such as using streamers to scare the birds, setting from the side and at night, and putting weights on their lines to ensure that they sink quickly out of reach of the birds. The project’s Seabird Guide for Fishermen explains what to do if a bird is caught to ensure better chances of its survival. This leaflet is being distributed to the entire Maltese fishing fleet.

The initial response from the fishing community to the project has been very positive with the majority of fishermen indicating that they are interested in working with the project team to protect the birds and enhance fishing productivity.