Updated ACAP Advice on Reducing the Bycatch of Albatrosses and Petrels in WCPFC Fisheries (does not include new advice from 2024 ACAP meeting)

The incidental mortality (bycatch) of seabirds in longline and trawl fisheries continues to be a serious global concern, especially for threatened albatrosses and petrels, resulting in a Conservation Crisis being declared by the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) in 2019. There are currently 31 species listed in Annex 1 of the Agreement. Of the 22 species of albatrosses, 17 breed and/or forage in the WCPFC Convention Area, as do six of the nine listed petrel species. This paper presents the most recent ACAP’s best practice bycatch mitigation advice for pelagic longilines fisheries, which was reviewed and updated last year during the 13rd meeting of ACAP’s Advisory Committee (AC13), and associated Working Groups, in addition to other resources and information relevant to seabird bycatch in WCPFC fisheries. We highlight information that may be useful for WCPFC to consider in the current review of CMM2018-03. Because in 2024 the best practice mitigation advice will be reviewed and updated by the SBWG12 in Lima, Peru, from 5 to 7 August, and endorsed by the AC14 in the following week, here we are re-presenting the information presented to the AC19 last year (SC19-EB-IP-21), and will present orally to the SC20 meeting an update based on outcomes of the SBWG12.