Mortality of seabirds in the Japanese land-based gillnet fishery for salmon

The Condor
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Abstract

Mortality rates of seabirds in the Japanese land-based drift gillnet fishery for salmon were assessed from 413 gillnet sets made by Japanese research vessels in offshore areas used by the commercial fleet. Sixteen species of seabirds were recorded in nets. Shearwaters, primarily Short-tailed Shearwaters (Puffinus tenuirostris), and to a lesser extent Sooty Shearwaters (P. griseus), predominated in the catches, followed by lesser numbers of Tufted Puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) and Thick-billed Murres (Uria lomvia). Catch-rates of seabirds varied by oceanographic zone, with most being caught in oceanic waters north of the Subarctic Front. Approximately 151,000 seabirds were killed in the offshore component of the land-based fishery in 1977. Mortality was reduced to about 57,000 seabirds in 1987 because of a reduction in fishing effort. No estimates are available of seabird mortality in the nearshore component of the fishery. Mortality of seabirds in the land-based fishery is discussed with respect to other major drift gillnet fisheries in the North Pacific.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Mortality of seabirds in the Japanese land-based gillnet fishery for salmon
Series title The Condor
DOI 10.2307/1368940
Volume 93
Issue 2
Year Published 1991
Language English
Publisher Oxford Academic
Contributing office(s) Alaska Science Center
Description 8 p.
First page 251
Last page 258
Country Japan
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