Variation in live-capture rates of albatrosses and petrels in fisheries, post-release survival and implications for management

Bycatch of seabirds in longline fisheries includes mortalities and live captures (mainly during hauling). Excluding outliers, the latter accounts for 5–70% (mean 40.4%) of all bycaught birds in demersal, and 3–23% (mean 10.7%) in pelagic longline fisheries. The proportion that later die from injuries is unknown, and this cryptic mortality complicates efforts to quantify fisheries impacts. Over a 26-year period at South Georgia, foul-hooking...