Recommendations concerning ACAP's advice for reducing the impact of pelagic longlines on seabirds

This document recommends that SBWG supports adopting short leaders as best practice line weighting for pelagic longline fishing. Current knowledge is presented that summarises the benefits to seabird conservation of using branch lines with short leaders and provides new information concerning the sink rate of differing branch line weighting configurations. These findings are provided to inform SBWG’s decision-making process on best practice branch line weighting.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. That ACAP’s best practice advice on line weighting for pelagic longline fisheries be amended, replacing the existing advice with the following:
Current recommended minimum standard for branch line weighting configurations are:
Lead weights of 40 g or greater attached at the hook;
Lead weights of 60 g or greater attached within 1 m of the hook or;
Lead weights of 80 g or greater attached within 2 m of the hook.
Positioning weight farther from the hook is not recommended.
The weighting regimes pertain to the use of dead bait only (not live bait or a mix of dead and live bait).
The use of sliding lead weights such as those reported in Robertson et al., (2013), not lead weights crimped into branch lines, is also encouraged.
2. That ACAP’s best practice advice on line weighting for pelagic longline fisheries be amended, to include the following:
Sliding leads, instead of leads crimped into the fishing gear, are recommended for crew safety reasons.
3. That the advice presented in section 5 below is taken into consideration in the determination of best practice branch line weighting.