Birds swallowing fishermanâs hooks with attached line is a well known problem; but for sure not as critical like cats, windows, cars, electric turbines etc. For some reason only this months I observed several terns that swallowed hook with line. In the past I only once witnessed fisherman who caught LAGU and put a lot of effort and time to successfully freed the bird. Unfortunately this seems to be a lonely case - rest just sign the death warrant - cut the line, the easiest way to rid off the responsibility. BTW judging from many pieces of fishing lines found on the beach they do not care at all. I do not know much about fishing (no interest at all) but just imagine that anything we do we should feel responsible for. Perhaps some fishermen (not all) enjoy the damage - again I do not know fishermanâs etiquette but something I saw once I did not comprehend. Guy caught a small shark, cut his tail when shark was still alive and left the fish to bleed to death under his pickup. Is that normal? Meat taste better? I would imagine that people trying to catch fish in saltwater are trying to get bigger catch but evidently hooks swallowed by terns were small (especially FOTE is a quite small bird). Well I see no good solution to solve this problem and I do not believe that we can make some people care about the nature (just look how the beach look after they left) Here are examples from this month: _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967308_ (http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967308) Royal Terns: _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967329_ (http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967329) Not only bird face death from starvation but some will injure themselves when trying to get rid off line _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967320_ (http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967320) _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967324_ (http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967324) _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967323_ (http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967323) _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967321_ (http://www. pbase.com/mbb/image/147967321) Sandwich Tern _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967335_ (http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967335) Forsterâs Tern _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967332_ (http://www.pbase.com/mbb/image/147967332) And few more photos: _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/terns_with_swallowed_fishermans_hooks__utc__decemb er_2012_ (http://www.pbase.com/mbb/terns_with_swallowed_fishermans_hooks__utc__december_2012) Mark B Bartosik Houston, Texas _http://www.pbase.com/mbb/from_the_field_ (http://www.pbase.com/mbb/from_the_field) Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission from the List Owner
