Action

Action Synopsis: Bird Conservation About Actions

Thaw bait before setting lines to reduce seabird bycatch

How is the evidence assessed?
  • Effectiveness
    50%
  • Certainty
    30%
  • Harms
    0%

Study locations

Key messages

A single study from Australia found that lines set using thawed baits caught significantly fewer seabirds than controls.

 

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. An analysis of data from 86 longlining vessels operating around Tasmania, Australia, between April 1992 and March 1995 (Klaer & Polacheck 1998) and studying a total of 141 line sets, found that sets that using partially or completely thawed bait had significantly lower bycatch rates, compared to sets using unthawed bait. This study is also described in ‘Set longlines at night to reduce seabird bycatch’ and ‘Use bait throwers to reduce seabird bycatch’.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Williams, D.R., Child, M.F., Dicks, L.V., Ockendon, N., Pople, R.G., Showler, D.A., Walsh, J.C., zu Ermgassen, E.K.H.J. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Bird Conservation. Pages 137-281 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

 

Where has this evidence come from?

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Bird Conservation

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Bird Conservation
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What Works in Conservation provides expert assessments of the effectiveness of actions, based on summarised evidence, in synopses. Subjects covered so far include amphibians, birds, mammals, forests, peatland and control of freshwater invasive species. More are in progress.

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