Comprehensive estimates of seabird–fishery interactions for the US Northeast and mid-Atlantic

* Relatively little is known about seabird–fishery interactions (i.e. bycatch) for the U.S. North-east and mid-Atlantic, despite concerted efforts to document observed interactions since 1989.

* Fisheries observer data were used to estimate seabird–fishery interactions for 10 species and six gear types that operated within the US Northeast and mid-Atlantic from 1996 to 2014.

* Hierarchical Bayes estimation was used and accounted for temporal, spatial, and operational considerations inherent in the data through post-stratification.

* Over the 19-year study period, 48 821 (coefficient of variation [CV] = 0.03) seabirds were estimated to have interacted with commercial fishing gear, resulting in an average of 2570 interactions per year.

* Trends in estimated interactions were explored using the marginal posterior distributions, with the majority of interactions pertaining to gillnets and shearwaters/fulmars.

* Comparison with previous work highlighted the need for consistency in data preparation, making it easier to compare relative trends in seabird bycatch estimates for the region.

* Future assessments should focus on providing context for the interaction estimates, so that population-level impacts can be inferred and the necessary conservation measures enacted.