A study conducted by Birdlife International and Global Fishing Watched used vessel monitoring systems (VMS) to analyze timing of gear sets for offshore tuna longliners. Their analysis concluded that current night setting rates are greatly overestimated, with only 3% of all longline sets occurring entirely at night. This analysis highlights the bycatch risk that longlines pose to albatross and petrels which are most actively foraging during the day, particularly during the dawn hours.
Read the Global Fishing Watch and Birdlife International press releases.
Research article in Biological Conservation: Global prevalence of setting longlines at dawn highlights bycatch risk for threatened albatross