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Bird Exclusion Devices (BEDs), also known as brickle curtains, restrict access to the hauling area while demersal longlines are being retrieved, helping to reduce seabird interactions.
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The problem
Fishing operations and seabird foraging zones overlap. Seabirds are attracted to fishing boats as they recognise them as a source of food.
Seabirds can get caught during both setting and hauling.
- During line setting – seabirds may attack baits on the surface or underwater to about 10 metres and become hooked or entangled in the fishing gear and drown.
- During line hauling – seabirds may attack leftover baits as the catch is brought on board. Birds may become hooked or entangled and injured or killed.
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The solution
BEDs form a physical and visual barrier around the area where line hauling occurs and prevent seabirds from accessing baited hooks during line hauling.
The BED contains a string of floats which encircle the line hauling area on the surface. Attached to the floats are a series of ropes which run up to a headline. The device is suspended from one or two booms which extent perpendicular to the side of the vessel.
Deploying BEDs is mandatory for all auto-longline fishers, which includes the auto-longline sector of the SESSF and Antarctic longline fisheries.