The underwater bait setter is a computer operated and hydraulically powered machine that releases baited hooks underwater, out of sight and reach of seabirds.

The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) recommends that hooks are released from the capsule at five metres or more.

The underwater bait setter has a control unit which is mounted in the wheel-house and operated by the skipper. The unit is used to set the depth that hooks are released at, and it also records the time and GPS location of each hook set. This information can be transmitted to shore real-time or downloaded for review later.  

What to check

To find out if the skipper set all hooks using the underwater bait setter, check the vessel logbook, EM footage or observer data and compare this to the data recorded by the control unit. To check that the control unit was set to release hooks at five metres or more, examine the downloaded Excel files.

The underwater bait setter can also be used to find out if the vessel was night setting. To do this, use the GPS data when the bait setter was in use to find out the time of sunrise and sunset.