FISHING INDUSTRY POLLUTION OBSERVATIONS AND ASSOCIATED MARINE MAMMAL ENTANGLEMENT RECORDS AT SOUTH GEORGIA, SUMMER 1996/97

From various locations on or near the mainland of South Georgia, between November 1996 and January 1997, 13 observations of entanglement of marine mammals (one southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina and 12 Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella) in anthropogenic debris were reported. Of the fur seals five (42%) were female (three adult, two juvenile) and seven (58%) were male (one adult, six juvenile); seven (58%) were entangled with plastic packaging bands, three (25%) in trawl netting and two (17%) in synthetic rope. All entangling material probably originated from fishing vessels. Marine debris was collected from a 1 km stretch of beach on the south coast of South Georgia between 24-26 December 1996. The photographs (originals in colour) illustrate the diversity of debris, most clearly originating from fishing activities. The debris included 361 packaging bands of the type used to secure bait boxes; a considerable proportion of these were uncut. CCAMLR Members need to be more active in ensuring that vessels fishing in the Convention Area comply with packaging band and waste disposal regulations.