The South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association (SETFIA) and the Great Australian Bight Fishing Industry Association (GABIA) have developed world leading technology that reduces interactions between trawlers and seabirds by up to 96%.
Plans are in place to roll this technology out across the trawl fleet.
In 2010 the trawl industry supported a management rule which saw all trawl vessels use pinkies - large brightly coloured inflatable boys that physically push seabirds to the sides of the two warps where they enter the water. Pinkies have proven to reduce seabird warp strikes by around 75%, but pinkies can become tangled in fishing gear and the industry believed it could do better to further reduce interactions with seabirds.
In 2014 the industry received an Australian Government grant of $360,000 which was used to build and fine-tune two new devices. A scientific testing programme was designed and independent sea-going observers were used to complete a study on their efficacy.
The trials of the two devices have been very successful.
A device called a sprayer sprays seawater on the area where the warp enters the water. Seabirds seem to hate being sprayed so keep away from warps. The sprayer is now proven to reduce interactions by 90%.
A second device called a bird baffler creates a long curtain of ropes and pieces of plastic piping which acts as a fence to prevent seabirds from entering the danger zone near the warps. The trial has shown that bird bafflers reduce interactions by 96%.
AFMA has now approved both devices for seabird mitigation.
SETFIA and GABIA have taken the further step of calling on AFMA to mandate that all vessels must use either sprayers, bird bafflers or pinkies and stringent offal management rules sufficient to remove the attractiveness of the vessel to seabirds by 30 April 2017.
Ulladulla trawl fishermen and SETFIA member Tony Lavalle said, “For many years we have been using pinkies to try to stop seabirds striking our fishing gear. When we saw the results of our study it was clear to me that bafflers are the most effective, easiest to use and cheapest option for my boat. We will be fitting them as soon as possible.”
