‘Pinkies’ get green light in protecting seabirds

Warp deflectors, commonly known as “pinkies”, have been proven effective in reducing seabird interactions with trawl warp wires by 75 per cent.

An injured Coromorant recovering at RSPCA Hospital after eating a fish hook..Pelican and Seabird Rescue brought him in to us a week ago. He had fishing line coming out of his mouth and he couldnÕt fly and was easily caught. When they X Rayed him they found a large hook in his stomach. Our Wildlife vets think he should recover as he has now started eating again. HeÕll be returned to the wild. Sadly we get hundreds, if not thousands of these cases a year. If people would just clean up their fishing litter it wouldnÕt happen. Pic Jamie Hanson

Warp deflectors, commonly known as “pinkies”, have been proven effective in reducing seabird interactions with trawl warp wires by 75 per cent.

The revelation is contained in a report by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority titled, Assessing the Effectiveness of Seabird Miti­-gation Devices in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery of Australia.

The report examined the effectiveness­ over a two-year period­ of two devices in reducing seabird interactions with trawl warp wires: warp deflectors (pinkies) – a plastic “pinkie” buoy that is attached to the trawl warp by a clip and connected back to the vessel on a rope – and warp scarers – a rope interlaced with semi-stiff streamers that is clipped onto the trawl warp.

Nine trawl boats participated in the trial in the Great Australian Bight and Commonwealth Trawl Sectors of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery.

A total of 124 trawl shots were observed to assess how well the mitigation devices worked. The trial was conducted in areas of high seabird concentration to ensure there was robust information on the effectiveness of each device.

Results from the trial showed that pinkies were most effective at reducing seabird interactions with warp wires while warp scarers had only limited success.

The trial also highlighted when seabirds were not at risk. No seabirds were observed interacting with the net itself because­ the net sinks rapidly and doesn’t spend much time on the surface.

Only two heavy seabird interactions occurred­ at night, suggesting that trawling outside of daylight hours reduces the likelihood of seabird interactions compared to trawling during the day.