Bycatch Mitigation Factsheets - New Designs and Updates

At SBWG7, it was noted that there is considerable duplication in the content of the ACAP Review and Best Practice Advice documents on the one hand and the Mitigation Fact Sheets on the other. Rather than integrating these two products, the Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG) and Advisory Committee (AC) recommended that they be retained as separate documents with appropriate links between them. Consequently, at SBWG8, three simplified designs were presented for the fact sheets on line weighting and hook shielding devices. Of the design options presented, the A4 format was agreed to be the most suitable for stakeholder outreach. Several suggestions were made at SBWG8 to improve aspects of the design, and these have been incorporated into the revised designs. The revised A4 designs for the new hook-shielding devices and updated line weighting factsheets are presented for final approval. These are currently only available in English. It is proposed that the next factsheet to be updated and re-designed be the bird scaring line factsheets for demersal and pelagic longline. The propsed content for these is also presented.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The Seabird Bycatch Working Group is asked to:
1. Approve the revised A4 pilot designs for the factsheets on hook shielding devices and line weighting;
2. Review the content of the revised hook shielding device factsheet;
3. Review the content of the simplified factsheet proposed for bird scaring lines;
4. Discuss and agree the next steps for the redesign/conversion of the remaining factsheets (in relation to phasing, translations and funding);