Subject: RE- Gillnetting and birds
Date: Sep 27 10:21:39 1995
From: WADE at racesmtp.afsc.noaa.gov - WADE at racesmtp.afsc.noaa.gov


To Jim Rosso,
I was hoping someone with more information would respond, but as no one has, I will take
a quick whack at it. Yes, seabirds are very much susceptible to entanglement in gillnets and
other forms of fishing, but nowhere near as much attention has been given this as has been
given to entanglement of marine mammals. Salmon gillnets in inside Washington waters are
known to take harbor porpoise, Dall's porpoise, CA seal lions, and harbor seals, but I
believe they are also well known to take seabirds, including, most unfortunately, marbled
murrelets. Many alcids seem to be fairly subject to entanglement problems. I believe that
there have even been some recent area closures of fisheries to avoid concentrations of
marbled murrelets to reduce takes, but I am not real up on these issues yet. The people that
would surely know would be whoever is dealing with marbled murrelets at NBS/U.S. Fish
and Wildlife -- I do not know if a Recovery plan has been or is being written, but if there is
one it would surely have good information on this. I do not know if anyone has really
investigated the magnitude of the problem to know whether the numbers killed represent a
serious problem or not for the population.

Because of this, I, too, was suprised that environmental groups came out against the gillnet
proposition. However, I believe that the reason they came out against has more to do with
salmon than birds (they will have to explain their real reasoning, I can only guess). The
proposition, in some peoples minds, is really a way for sportfishermen to have more of the
salmon for themselves to catch by taking it away from commercial fishermen. I am guessing
that the environmental groups have come out against it because it will confuse the issue if it is
portrayed as something that would save salmon runs, because it does not address the many
habitat issues (including dams) in river systems that many believe are more the primary
cause of the decline in salmon runs. Blaming only commercial fishermen for the decline in
salmon runs is not right and ignores that fact that there are healthy runs that are commercially
fished.

Paul Wade, Seattle, WA
wade at racesmtp.afsc.noaa.gov