AS many as 17,000 Long-tailed Ducks die annually in the Baltic Sea after becoming tangled in fishery gillnets.

So says the RSPB which further suggests that the same fate befalls "thousands" of Eiders and Velvet Scoters.

Perhaps this part-explains why winter sightings of these  species seem to have been fewer off the Lincolnshire Coast in recent years.

The latest edition of The RSPB Magazine warns: "UK sea ducks face a plethora of threats on land and at sea."

These include:

·         Coastal development

·         Habitat destruction

·         Disturbance and predation

·         Avian flu

·         Oil pollution

·         The effects of climate change

·         The inappropriate siting of offshore wind turbine arrays.

What can be done? On the problem with accidental gillnet bycatch, trials are being conducted with floating marine scarecrows, off Cornwall as well as in the Baltic, to deter sea ducks from feeeding close to fishing area.

The RSPB employs a bycatch programme manager, Yann Rouxel, who is quoted as saying that these trials have shown "promise", but that other measures are also required to reduce mortalities.

Article supplied by Jim Wright