CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The Marine Stewardship Council said a South African industry group will use a new grant to tighten monitoring of bird-scaring lines and other practices that curb albatross bycatch in the country’s hake trawl fleet. Supporters say the extra oversight is meant to protect gains that have already cut albatross bycatch by about 99%, May 26, 2025.
Albatross bycatch: a low-tech fix, now backed by high-tech checks
In its grant announcement, the council said the South African Deep-Sea Trawling Industry Association will trial monitoring systems intended to strengthen compliance with Bird Scaring Line requirements. One component centers on verifying that the lines are deployed every time gear is set. “This grant is a great opportunity to bolster our work,” said Dr. Johann Augustyn, the association’s secretary.
Bird-scaring, or “tori,” lines are ropes streamed from the stern with bright streamers that flap in the wind. They are designed to keep seabirds away from the danger zone behind a vessel, where birds drawn to fish waste can strike thick trawl cables or become entangled and drown. Fishers and conservationists say the logic is straightforward: keep birds away from cables and nets, and albatross bycatch falls without requiring a fleet to change fishing grounds.
BirdLife South Africa’s Albatross Task Force credits the turnaround to a package of steps that crews can fold into normal routines: bird-scaring lines, offal-discard management during higher-risk periods, keeping warps free of grease and minimizing time spent setting and hauling. The group says an estimate in 2008 suggested about 18,000 seabirds were dying each year in the industry, before the measures became widespread and enforced.
The fleet’s turnaround has been tracked for more than a decade. A 2014 University of Cape Town report described years of at-sea observation showing steep declines after “scare lines” became routine in the fishery. “Everyone — from the deck hands, to the skippers, to the CEOs — bought into the idea,” seabird researcher Dr. Ross Wanless said at the time. Earlier that year, a Phys.org research brief highlighted the same findings and emphasized how inexpensive streamer lines could sharply reduce fatal interactions.
The work also has a human footprint on land. A 2022 update from the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels said BirdLife South Africa had supplied more than 1,000 bird-scaring lines and estimated the effort had prevented about 58,000 seabird deaths in South African trawl fisheries. The update also described a partnership that provides skills and income for people with disabilities who help manufacture the gear.
Keeping albatross bycatch low is still an operational challenge, especially for smaller inshore boats where space and rigging can make standard lines harder to deploy. A Marine Stewardship Council case study on the hake fishery notes that new designs, training and collaboration are being developed to fit different vessels and work styles — a test of whether South Africa’s hard-won reductions in albatross bycatch can be maintained for the long term.
