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Life

Shark oil keeps seabirds alive

15 March 2006

FISHERMEN could save seabirds from becoming tangled in fishing lines by dribbling shark liver oil into the water to scare them away.

Long-line fishing, which uses hundreds of hooks along a single line, is common all over the world. The trouble is it kills or maims thousands of seabirds every year.

Johanna Pierre and Wendy Norden, biologists from the New Zealand Department of Conservation in Wellington, dribbled shark liver oil, vegetable oil or seawater from long-line fishing boats. They recorded a dramatic decline in the number of birds diving behind the boat when shark liver oil was used. The results…

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