Carter and others 



Chapter 27 



Mortality in Gill Nets 



DIXON 

 ENTRANCE 

 DISTRICT 



km 



40 



60 



Figure 2 South portion of Southeastern Alaska indicating 1 988 fishing districts 

 (numbered). Other symbols and sources as in fig. 1. 



occur to a significant degree in subdistricts ISA and 15C in 

 southern Lynn Canal, because birds in this region forage to 

 the south in northern Steven's Passage and in Icy Straits. 

 Also, gill-net fishing tends to occur in this subdistrict 

 mainly in July to October, after most birds have left the 

 area. It is difficult to estimate the true magnitude of impact, 

 but when actively foraging aggregations of murrelets overlap 

 with gill-net gear, the potential for mortality is high (Carter 

 and Sealy 1984). 



Purse seine fishing occurs more extensively than gill- 

 net fishing throughout most of Southeast Alaska. McAllister 

 (unpubl. data) has observed no mortalities of Marbled 

 Murrelets in 10 years of fishing in the area, although fishermen 

 have reported "dozens" of Common Murres and Rhinoceros 

 Auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) per net and smaller numbers 

 of Cassin's Auklets (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) being killed 

 in seine nets in a year, especially in fishing district 4 (Jig. 2). 

 This mortality could amount to many thousands of dead 



birds. Murrelets are frequently trapped inside encircled nets, 

 but almost always escape by swimming and hopping over or 

 through spaces between the floats that line the top of nets. 

 On five occasions in late summer, McAllister retrieved and 

 released live murrelets from encircled nets near Cape Chacon 

 in district 2 (fig. 2) that were not able to escape over the 

 floats, including juveniles and adults undergoing prebasic 

 molt. A seine fisherman has reported to McAllister similar 

 entrapment of murrelets in seine nets in August at Stepovak 

 Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. 



In Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet, Isleib (pers. 

 comm.) indicated continued mortality of Marbled Murrelets 

 in the 1980s and 1990s, at levels similar to or greater than 

 that reported in the 1970s (DeGange and others 1993). In 

 addition, Kuletz (pers. comm.) reported catching a few 

 murrelets per year from 1982-1988 during set-net fishing on 

 the east side of the middle of Cook Inlet. This mortality 

 occurred while fishing with nine nets, set a few days per 



274 



USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PS W- 152. 1995. 



