The mighty Pacific: how the RSPB is working with partners in Japan and Taiwan to reduce albatross deaths in High Seas fisheries

The RSPB has been working with its partners in Asia to drive down seabird deaths in High Seas fisheries through grassroots work with the fishing industry. Stephanie Prince, High Seas Programme Manager explains more in today’s blog.

Of the world’s 22 species of albatross, just three are found in the North Pacific, yet some North Pacific countries have the potential for a profound impact on albatross conservation.

Studies in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey looked at albatross foraging ranges during the non-breeding season, and where birds overlap with fishing vessels on the High Seas. Results showed that some Asian nations have a huge overlap with albatrosses, and in particular Japan and Taiwan.

Both nations have large fishing fleets that roam across entire oceans in search of highly prized swordfish and tuna. This brings them into the realm of the albatross, creating the potential for birds to be killed on the end of hooks, as the albatross try to gain a free meal.

The good news is that there are solutions to this problem, which the RSPB has helped improve and fine-tune over the past decade, but the challenge is ensuring that these solutions are used effectively on the boats. The vessels are fishing far away from the coast and some only return to port every nine months, meaning there are very few eyes on the water, and little incentive to comply.

The RSPB has been working in both Japan and Taiwan for several years in collaboration with our partners through BirdLife International in Japan, and the Taiwan Wild Bird Federation (TWBF) in Taiwan.

In November 2022, following a two-year absence due to covid, I had the amazing chance to visit Japan and Taiwan again to review our project progress with the team and to conduct stakeholder meetings to push forward our conservation efforts.

Bird Scaring Line trials in Taiwan
During the trip, we met with the Taiwan Fisheries Agency to discuss the results of trials designed to introduce Best Practice bird-scaring line designs in their fishing fleet. This stemmed from work in 2016 and 2018 when we visited Taiwanese fishing boats docked in Mauritius where they refuel and offload their catch. That was our first liaison with the captains and crew on the design of seabird bycatch mitigation measures. It came to light that bird scaring lines were by far the most popular mitigation measure, but the fishing captains reported issues with the designs available.

Meeting with the Taiwan Fisheries Agency to discuss the bird-scaring line trial results. Credit: Stephanie Prince.

Following a 2019 workshop with bird scaring line experts from around the world (from South Africa, Japan, and Uruguay), we worked in partnership with the Taiwan Fisheries Agency to find some vessels to take part in an experiment that would help update the fleet’s mitigation. Five vessels tested the Best Practice design vs the fleet standard design in 2021. The results may help provide further tweaks to the Best Practice and represent important progress, but will require further data collection in 2023. Most importantly, the fishing captains and the fisheries observers, who monitored the trials, have expressed far more interest in tackling seabird bycatch issues thanks to this collaboration.

Dimas Gianuca and Scott Pursner (TWBF) discuss bird scaring line design with Taiwanese fisheries observers. Credit: Stephanie Prince.

Making connections with the Japanese tuna industry
A quick flight from Taiwan and we were in Japan, where we travelled by bullet train north of Tokyo to one of the Japanese major fishing port towns of Kesennuma. There we met with Sotaro Usui, the owner of the Usufuku Honten Co Ltd, one of the first companies to receive Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for their longline fishery.

The Japanese long-line vessel owned by the Usufuku Honten Co Ltd. Credit: Stephanie Prince.

We visited one of their vessels to see the vessel fishing gear and operational configuration and how the captain uses seabird mitigation measures. It is not often that we are able to visit Japanese fishing vessels, and to see everything in practice was hugely valuable in planning our engagement with the wider fleet. This is a result of gradually building relationships directly with the fishing industry over time. At the end of the day, it is industry that decides whether to use the mitigation measures to protect seabirds, particularly in areas with low monitoring as is the case on the High Seas.

Japanese vessel owner Sotaro Usui shows a bird scaring line to Dr Dimas Gianuca, our High Seas bycatch expert. Credit: Stephanie Prince.

Looking ahead
Looking to the future, a large-scale project – the Common Oceans 2 project, funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is due to run for the next four years. The RSPB has been instrumental in setting up the project and will continue to be involved in training for fishing crews and observers. It is an exceptional opportunity to greatly increase the level of our grassroots work across Asia.

BirdLife’s Yasuko Suzuki discusses line weighting with Sotaro Usui onboard his vessel. Credit: Stephanie Prince.

Final thoughts
From a personal perspective this visit to Asia has left me with a real sense of renewed hope that we can tackle seabird bycatch in High Seas fisheries. The dedication of our in-country team members, coupled with the support from our Albatross Task Force bycatch experts, gives us an opportunity to raise awareness and knowledge within the fishing industry to make seabird bycatch a thing of the past.

This was my last visit to Asia with the RSPB as I’m soon to depart my role, but after 6.5 years in the team I know that I’ll soon be reading about some major bycatch reductions due to the hard work and good relationship building by the team.

With thanks
This work was made possible due to funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the South Georgia Heritage Trust, the Friends of South Georgia Island and South Georgia Association.

Thanks also to our partners – the Taiwan Wild Bird Federation and BirdLife International and to the British Antarctic Survey for their various collaborations over the years.

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