>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 26 Jan 96 12:15 SAST
>From: FISH1IFR at aol.com
>To: dvictor at u.washington.edu
>Subject: [SEABIRD:221] Invitation to join Seabird Bycatch Working Group
>
>Dear Seabird Researcher:
>
> While searching the Internet for institutions working on seabird/fishing
>gear
>interactions, we came across your names and e-mail addresses as persons
>with expertise and interest in the seabird bycatch issue, or who work within
>institutions that have that interest in some of their research.
>
> Please consider this a personal invitation to join the Seabird Bycatch
>Working Group as described below. Also please pass this message on
>to anyone in your organizations who may be interested in joining that
>effort. To join you merely follow the instructions below. Feel free to
>check
>out our Web site for a fuller description of this effort.
>
> -- Glen Spain, Institute for Fisheries Resources
> Seabird Bycatch Project Manager
>
>
>
>===========================================================
>
> ANNOUNCING
> THE
> SEABIRD NETWORK
> BYCATCH WORKING GROUP
> Cooperative Solutions to Seabird Bycatch Problems
> A joint project of the Institute for Fisheries Resources and
> the
> National Fisheries Conservation Center
>
> The Seabird Network Bycatch Working Group is a major cooperative
>effort among fisheries, conservation and scientific organizations to not only
>seriously address the issue of seabird bycatch on the basis of the best
>available science, but to arrive at real-life solutions. It also makes
>use of modern communications technology to greatly leverage our outreach,
>impact and effectiveness, while minimizing costs. Using "Internet"
>technology, the proposed Seabird Network electronically convenes
>scientists, conservationists, and fishing leaders throughout the west coast
>(and worldwide) to do the following:
>
> 1) Assess the problem, gather all the scientific data on seabird bycatch
>(now widely scattered) into one readily available form easily accessible by
>computer modem, and to review and critique the current status of all relevant
>research;
>
> 2) Recommend priorities for future study and funding at state and
>federal levels, based upon an assessment of where entanglements are most
>likely to cause significant population-level impacts;
>
> 3) With the help of those actually in the fishery, to identify and
>promote new fishery strategies to reduce the impact of fishing methods where
>appropriate, including the development and evaluation of new gear types and
>techniques designed to minimize or altogether avoid unwanted bird bycatch;
>and
>
> 4) Advocate sound conservation and management policies regarding bird
>entanglement, including working to identify and help secure funding for key
>additional research to make better conservation possible.
>
> Thanks to modern electronic networking, this work can be truly
>international by involving literally hundreds of participants from all over
>the world, be ongoing (rather than just a single event such as a conference),
>be fully accessible to the general public from any desktop computer, be
>electronically recorded, and be conducted at only a fraction of the costs any
>such effort would have entailed in the past.
>
> The Seabird Network has established a publicly accessible World
>Wide Web (WWW) site at:
>
> http://www.pond.net/~fish1ifr/ifrpg1.html
>
>and an E-mail "Listserver" to promote round table discussions
>and scientific working groups among scientists, agencies and citizens
>involved in bird conservation and fisheries issues. Notice of our electronic
>discussions and report will be posted to all relevant Internet mailing lists
>and in fisheries and conservation publications throughout North America and
>Europe.
>
> The Network will deal with a variety of species, but the initial focus will
>be on the marbled murrelet in the Pacific Northwest of North America.
>Fisheries interactions with this species have
>generated concerns that are urgent in both biological and socio-political
>terms. Among bird species known to be incidentally caught in fisheries, only
>the marbled murrelet is listed under the US Endangered Species Act as well as
>the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The fragile and protected status of this
>species has raised the possibility of population-level impacts from
>fisheries. Likewise, the future of some commercial salmon fisheries depends
>upon sound conservation of these birds.
>
> In addition, the Network expects to research and publish a report on
>seabird interactions with fisheries by January, 1997. This report will
>summarize the findings and recommendations of the Network, provide a basis
>for public policy makers to evaluate proposed actions for seabird
>conservation in fisheries, and lay out a proactive strategy for continuing
>research and action.
>
> The Seabird Network Bycatch Working Group is a collaborative effort of the
>Institute for Fisheries Resources (affiliated with the Pacific Coast
>Federation of Fishermen's Associations) and the National Fisheries
>Conservation Center, organizations known for fostering cooperation
>among fishing and conservation leaders to solve problems. Participants and
>advisors will include representatives of the National Audubon Society, the
>Center for Marine Conservation, National Fisherman Magazine, the American
>Fisheries Society, fishermen's groups, many state and federal agencies and a
>number of reputable institutions dealing with fisheries research and
>management
>in both the US and Canada.
>
> TO JOIN THE NETWORK: You only need E-mail capability and access to the
>World Wide Web. Please indicate your interest and E-mail your name, surface
>mailing address and phone/fax, what agency or organization (if any) you are
>with,
>and a brief description of your interest and expertise on this issue to the
>Institute for Fisheries Resources at:
>
> birdbycatch-request at pond.net
>
> This will be the staff E-mail address for this Project. Project
>coordinators will be Glen Spain, Program Director for the Institute for
>Fisheries Resources, and Brad Warren, Executive Director of the National
>Fisheries Conservation Center. For more information you may also contact
>Glen Spain, Institute for Fisheries Resources, at PO Box 11170, Eugene, OR
>97440-3370, (541)689-2000 or FAX:(541)689-2500.
>
>===========================================================
>
>
>
>
>
>

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416