El arrastre afecta a la mortalidad de la pardela balear (Puffinus mauretanicus)

Abstract

We report two incidents of accidental Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus trawling bycatch during research trawling activities in the western Mediterranean. Both incidents, which involved single individuals (with the certain mortality of at least one bird and probable of the other), took place during the course of a fishery research cruise over the Mediterranean Iberian shelf in May 2011 during this species¿ breeding period. The incidents occurred when large numbers of shearwaters were attracted to the vessel during hauling operations in relatively shallow waters. Even though the accidental bycatch of Balearic Shearwaters is probably rare, it could have a certain importance during trawling in shallow waters. Since the Balearic Shearwater is catalogued as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, this is a new threat to be added to already existent ones such as the accidental catching of adults during long-line fishing and mortality by predation in breeding colonies. Monitoring and research activities are even more necessary if we are to properly assess the importance of this new threat on an already critically endangered species