Andrew Wicklund
Stanford Univ
Conducted research on seabird mortality in the North Pacific groundfish fishery related to fishing vessels at sea.

This summer I had the opportunity to work as a student intern under the direction of Shannon Fitzgerald of the Resource Ecology and Ecosystem Modeling Group. Shannon is a researcher who works on seabird-related issues within the AFSC. Many seabirds meet their death in Alaska during the fishing season, due to the hundreds of birds that hover above fishing vessels and specifically above the fishing nets teeming with fish. The birds can get caught in the cables that support the nets during the tow and while the fish are being hauled onto the ship. My task was to compile the results of an observer special project completed in 2004-2006, which documents the occurrence of seabird deaths. The data forms indicate the species of each bird killed, as well as the circumstances of the death. This study is one of the first to look at seabird mortality during the entire haulback activity. This gives a much broader perspective of how seabirds die; previously only dead seabirds that ended up in the haul with the daily catch were recorded.

In this study, we learned that there are several factors that can contribute to the overall risk of seabird morality on a vessel. For example, if a vessel is processing its catch on-board and then dumping the fish waste, there are increased seabird deaths, due to the drastic increase in birds circling the boat. There are many other factors which have not yet been analyzed sufficiently, including time of day, target fishery, time of year, and cause of death. We also determined that seabird deterrents can, in fact, be effective in reducing deaths.