Summary of fishing practices and verification methods

Tables covering ratings for both seabird safe practices and verification methods of those practices.

If you are fishing in an area that is considered high risk for threatened seabirds, you may need to use more tools and practices to keep birds safe.

Seabird safe practices and safety ratings
	High risk zones	Medium risk zones	Low risk zones
Bird scaring lines + night setting + line weighting	Best	Best	Best
Hook shielding devices	Best	Best	Best
Underwater bait setter	Partial	Best	Best
Night setting + line weighting	Partial	Best	Best
Bird scaring lines + night setting	Partial	Best	Best
Bird scaring lines + line weighting	Partial	Best	Best
Bird-scaring lines	Poor	Partial	Best
Night setting	Poor	Partial	Best
Line weighting	None	Poor	Partial

Seabird safety ratings

Best: Threatened seabirds are unlikely to be caught – you have minimised captures.

Partial: Threatended seabirds may still be caught.

Poor: Threatened seabirds are likely to be caught.

None: Threatened seabirds are highly likely to be caught.

Single practices reliability ratings
	Reliability ratings
Methods	Bird scaring lines	Line weighting	Night setting	Hook-shielding devices	Underwater bait setting
Human observers	Best	Best	Best	Best	Best
Dockside inspection	Poor	Partial	None	Poor	Poor
Remote monitoring systems (VMS / AIS)	None	None	Best	None	None
Electronic monitoring	Partial	Partial	Best	Partial	Partial
Electronic monitoring and dockside inspection	Partial	Partial	Best	Best	Partial
Bird scaring line tension device	Partial	None	None	None	None
Underwater bait setter sensor	None	None	None	None	Partial
Electronic monitoring and underwater bait setter sensor	Partial	Partial	Best	Partial	Best

Combined practices reliability rating
	Reliability ratings
Methods	Bird scaring lines + night setting + line weighting	Night setting + line weighting	Bird scaring lines + night setting	Bird scaring lines + line weighting
Human observers	Best	Best	Best	Best
Dockside inspection	Poor	Poor	Poor	Poor
Remote monitoring systems (VMS / AIS)	Poor	Poor	Poor	None
Electronic monitoring	Partial	Partial	Partial	Partial
Electronic monitoring and dockside inspection	Partial	Partial	Partial	Partial
Bird scaring line tension device	None	None	None	None
Underwater bait setter sensor	None	None	None	None
Electronic monitoring and underwater bait setter sensor	Partial	Partial	Partial	Partial

Best: Can verify that the seabird safe practice is being used and all specifications are being met.

Partial: Can verify that the seabird safe practice is being used and some, but not all, specifications are being met.

Poor: Cannot verify that the seabird safe practice is being used but can verify that some specifications are being met.

None: Cannot verify that the seabird safe practice is being used or specifications are being met.