How Bird-Scaring Lines Are Saving South Africa's Majestic Albatrosses

On a bright summer day off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa, a group of bird watchers set out on a boat trip to see some of the world’s rarest seabirds. Their main goal was to spot albatrosses, large birds with white and brown feathers and a hooked beak. These birds are hard to find on land, so the boat took the group far out into the Atlantic Ocean, about 27 nautical miles from Cape Point. As the boat moved through the clear blue water, the bird watchers called out the names of the birds they saw, like 'Atlantic yellow-nosed' and 'Black-browed albatross. ' The boat’s captain used his radio to find fishing trawlers, because where there are fishing boats, there are usually lots of seabirds.

When the boat got close to a fishing trawler, the group saw hundreds of birds flying behind it. The birds followed the trawler because fishermen throw away fish heads and guts as they clean their catch, and the birds fight over these scraps. Sometimes, the birds even dive into the fishing nets to grab more food. However, this way of finding food is risky for the albatrosses. Tim Appleton, a British conservationist, explained that fishing boats use long lines with thousands of hooks to catch big fish like tuna. The bait on these hooks attracts the birds, but if they try to eat it, they can get caught, dragged under the water, and drown. This is called bycatch, which means animals are caught by accident. Albatrosses can also get tangled in the cables that pull up the fishing nets.

Albatrosses spend much of their lives flying over the ocean, which makes them especially likely to get hurt or killed by fishing boats. Andrea Angel, who leads the Albatross Task Force at BirdLife South Africa, says that out of 22 species of albatrosses, 15 are threatened by fishing. These birds only lay one egg every two years, and both parents work together to raise the chick. If one parent dies, the chick probably won’t survive. It also takes albatrosses several years to find a new mate if their partner dies. To help protect these birds, people have started using bird-scaring lines. These are ropes with colorful streamers that flutter in the wind and scare birds away from the dangerous fishing lines. BirdLife South Africa works with people with disabilities to make these bird-scaring lines, giving them a chance to earn money and help the environment. The fishing industry also benefits because they want to catch valuable fish, not birds. Since the Albatross Task Force began in 2004, the number of seabirds killed by fishing boats in southern Africa has dropped by 90 percent. Conservationists hope that this success can be repeated in other parts of the world to save these amazing birds for the future.