In a letter expected to be delivered to the Environment Minister today, the President of the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds will lobby Government leaders for wildlife safeguards to protect seabirds from the dangers of long-line fishing.

During the months of February and March the Ministry of the Environment has contracted an American long-line fishing vessel to fish offshore and train local fishermen in the practice of long-lining.

It’s a commercial technique used by fishermen that allows them to bait thousands of hooks simultaneously from a single line.

Those baited hooks trail behind the boat near the surface and can attract by-catch — captured wildlife accidentally tangled or drowned as a result of long-line fishing. By-catch sometimes includes endangered species like sea turtles and albatrosses.

“It’s a big issue among bird conservation organisations around the world,” said the Bermuda bird group’s president Andrew Dobson.

“It has Prince Charles as an advocate against long-line fishing in the Southern Ocean because it definitely has an effect on the albatross numbers.”

The heir to the throne has not lobbied for an abolition of the fishing technique, but has asked that certain safeguards be instituted.

Mr. Dobson is making the same argument.

“The point is I’m not against long-lining if the methods to prevent loss of wildlife are adhered to,” he said in a brief telephone interview.

His letter to Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield outlines, what Mr. Dobson believes, are six easily implemented solutions to prevent by-catch.

The ideas have worked in other parts of the world.

Two such examples according to Mr. Dobson are: “Tying enough weights to the fishing line so that it sinks more quickly out of reach of the birds and setting lines at night (because) most albatrosses feed during the day.”

Since albatrosses don’t traditionally hunt in Bermuda’s waters, Mr. Dobson says his six recommended solutions are to protect the sooty and greater shearwater birds which migrate through our area.

He writes: “The Bermuda Audubon Society and BirdLife International believe measures like these should be as routine a part of long-lining as the line itself, and international agreements have been developed to encourage their use”

The Ministry of Environment was made aware of the letter by The Royal Gazette and was awaiting its expected arrival sometime today.

An Internet search on the Eagle Eye II reveals the fishing ship has been deployed on sea turtle conservation efforts in the United States.

It’s unclear whether the crew will be using internationally recognised safeguards written by the United Nations and the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species while the ship is harvesting Bermuda controlled waterways.

Those documents are legally-binding and have formed the foundation for the conservation efforts of Prince Charles.

He said last November in a speech: “The challenge is to get the message across that these migration measures should be used at all times in all fishing areas.”

Mr. Dobson’s letter also has asked the Ministry to deploy an independent observer on the>Eagle Eye II to monitor any potential by-catch while she is working for the Government.

He also said the Bermuda Audubon Society would be willing to offer an observer.

Mr. Dobson is past president of that organisation.