Waterbird Entanglement Prevention The tragedy of fishing line entanglement and what you can do to help

Ann Paul, Audubon Florida Sandy Reed, Vice President, Tampa Audubon Society

Discovery Skyway Fishing Pier SP was host to unusual birds in

winter 2012 after Hurricane Sandy

Black-legged Kittiwake

R

Razorbill

Did NOT expect to see this!

Challenges

What to do??

Who to call??

How to catch them??

Former employee of Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, Liz Vreeland met Sandy at the pier to show how she captured the Pelicans; in 2 hours they captured 15 birds with hooks and line, mostly young Brown Pelicans. The number of Pelicans and their injuries was appalling!

We developed a plan to include • Non-Game Biologists from the Florida Fish & Wildlife

Conservation Commission • State Park Manager, FL Dept. of Environmental Protection • Skyway Pier Associates manager • Lee Fox at Save Our Seabirds • Started a Committee to address the problem and create

solutions

Sandy called me.

DEP and Skyway Associates said it was an occasional problem, FWC said they were busy dealing with dead manatees….so Sandy called a reporter to meet me at the Skyway.

After the article in the Tampa Tribune there was more interest in the number of entangled birds at the pier.

A Common Loon was hooked, but we released it!

So we held a committee meeting with many different organizations. Many had been working on this problem for many years, and we brainstormed….

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING???? AND it was worse than we thought …

When someone cuts the line of an entangled or hooked bird, the bird flies back to the ROOST or the COLONY, gets entangled in the vegetation and it dies there. Then the line remains to snare and kill other birds.

Peter Clark took this picture at Passage Key NWR years ago

Pelicans are often injured and killed by entanglement in line. Biologist Ralph Schreiber had identified entanglement in line as the main cause of mortality for Brown Pelicans in Florida in the 1980s. Carnage continues today.

Fishing line in spoonbill nest

Spoonbills dead from entanglement in fishing line

Other birds suffer collateral damage.

Colony cleanups after nesting…. sometimes only bones remain

Audubon’s Coastal Islands Sanctuaries & Tampa Bay Watch organize cleanup of nesting islands in the fall when birds aren’t nesting. Call to participate.

The problem: Birds are being fed

Bait

Fish carcasses

Trash

They are attracted to where people are actively fishing!

At piers, near fishing boats

The Solution

The Answer: DON’T FEED THEM…. ANYTHING!!!

Cover your bait Do not feed birds fish cleanings, filleted carcasses Dispose of trash properly

What we did

Found a rehabber to demonstrate how to catch the birds

Held classes to teach others, 100 people so far

Thanks to Lee Fox, Beth Weir

DON’T BE AFRAID!!!

Patrolled pier to educate anglers Had T-shirts made: “Ask me about the Birds”

Skyway Pier Associates hired a full time BIRDMAN! Signs were donated and installed on the Pier

And we got to work

TEAMWORK

Our Stats

• 2013: Rescue on the Skyway Pier and volunteer training begins; Skyway hires Birdman • 2014: one day the end of January, we had 28 birds. By the end of the season we had caught 550

birds! Because of these total numbers, FWC paid attention • Worked with Pelican Island Audubon on the “What to do if you Hook a Pelican” brochure to

make it apply statewide • Bird Babes of Palma Sola Veterinary Hospital rescue birds from under the Pier

• 2015: FWC started a webpage for hooked birds www.MyFWC.com/unhook • Hired a biologist to work on outreach to the public • Message incorporated into fishing clinics • Coastal Islands Sanctuaries gave presentations to fishing kids camps

• 2016: <100 birds rescued from Pier due to signage and fishermen training • Carcass tubes installed in Bradenton and Manatee County

• 2017: reaching out to pier managers in other areas (Cedar Key, Hillsborough, Pinellas)

• 2013: We did not keep track • 2014 : 550 birds, mostly

young Brown Pelicans • 2015: <150 birds • 2016: <100 birds • 2017 ???

The Solution: EDUCATION

Don’t Feed the Birds

Cover your bait

Do not feed birds fish cleanings, filleted carcasses

Dispose of trash appropriately

Watch your fishing pole

Don’t Cut the Line

If you hook a bird….

REEL it in

REMOVE the hook

RELEASE the bird

We reworked Pelican Island Audubon’s brochure so that it works for the whole state.

Skyway Trash Problem

NOW

BEFORE

Hillsborough County, City of Tampa • No chutes • No trash cans

Birds waiting for carcasses and scraps at Gandy Boat Ramp cleaning station

New Ballast Point Pier, beautiful but:

FWC: MyFWC.com/unhook

Statute: For reference, the current Florida

Administrative Code (FWC rule) language pertaining to pelican feeding is below. I’ve also included the portion relevant to Sandhill Cranes for comparison.

68A-4.001 F.A.C., General Prohibitions. (5) The intentional feeding or the placement

of food that attracts pelicans and modifies the natural behavior of the pelican so as to be detrimental to the survival or health of a local population is prohibited.

(6) The intentional feeding of Sandhill Cranes is prohibited.

https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ruleNo.asp?id=68A-4.001

Articles in FWC’s Saltwater Fishing Regulations booklet

myfwc.com\unhook

GULFPORT

What you can do for your birds! EVERYONE

• needs to look for entangled birds • One day we all may find a hooked bird. Learn how to

safely release it. • Identify areas inappropriate for fishing – talk to managers • Find sites where disposal of fish carcasses need FWC

attention; these could be sites that carcass chutes can be installed

• Watch for people feeding birds and educate them WE NEED • Volunteers to reach out to anglers on piers – don’t feed the

birds, don’t cut the line • Cleanups with Audubon’s Coastal Islands/Tampa Bay Watch

during the fall • Construction and installation of chutes and cleaning tables

It takes a village: Many entities are part of this effort

Thank you doesn’t say enough Manatee County Audubon Society Tampa Audubon Society Lake Region Audubon Society St. Petersburg Audubon Society Pelican Island Audubon Society Cedar Key Audubon Society Audubon’s Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries Audubon Florida

Save All Birds, Lee Fox Beth Weir Palma Sola Veterinary Hospital Don’t Cut the Line Crew Wildlife Inc. Tampa Bay Watch Sarasota Bay Watch Conservancy of Southwest Florida Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Florida Department of Environmental Protection Skyway Pier Associates Save Our Seabirds Seaside Seabird Sanctuary Busch Gardens Veterinary Service Tampa Electric Company Manatee County Environmental Dept.

John Muir: "When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world."

youtube.com/watch?v=qwZq7dwXzVg