A protected bird has died after spending 12 hours trapped dangling in mid-air in a fishing line left hanging over cliffs near Rabat.
The Scopoli’s Shearwater seabird died on Wednesday despite the efforts of a conservation volunteer who abseiled down the cliffside to rescue the bird last month.
It became entangled in the fishing line, which stretched down around half the height of the cliffs at Miġra l-Ferħa, the Malta Ranger Unit (MRU) said.
Footage shows the bird hanging from one wing in midair, rotating slowly and unable to free itself from the fishing line.
The bird was eventually freed after a member of LIFE PanPuffinus! - part of BirdLife Malta – abseiled down the cliff to retrieve it with guidance from the rangers.
Unfortunately, it died on Wednesday after succumbing to an infection brought on by injuries, dehydration and malnutrition, the NGO said.
The rangers said it highlighted how important it is for fishers to dispose of fishing lines properly.
They were asked to assist finding the Scopoli’s Shearwater after a report was lodged with BirdLife Malta about its plight.
A two-person team from LIFE PanPuffinus! attended the scene shortly afterwards, with one of the team abseiling down the cliffs to cut the bird free and retrieve it.
The BirdLife-led NGO said the bird had been found in “bad shape”, noting it was the third such incident the organisation had encountered recently.
The bird died shortly after the rescue. Photo: LIFE PanPuffinus!Speaking to Times of Malta, a spokesperson for the rangers said the fishing line used for longline fishing had most likely become caught halfway down the cliff after being cut from the top when not needed.
“There are loads of similar fishing lines in that area of the cliffs,” the spokesperson said, noting the area was one favoured by longline fishers.
“Not all cliffs are a problem, but these are used as a nesting area for Scopoli’s Shearwaters – but for some reason, this has not been acknowledged by authorities,” she said.
The spokesperson said that while the ranger unit was not against longline fishing per se, in areas home to the birds such as Miġra l-Ferħa such activities should be regulated to lessen their impact.
“At the very least, the lines left there should be cleaned up,” she said.
This is not the first time birds have been caught in fishing gear; in 2021, four scopoli’s shearwaters died off the coast of Comino after becoming caught on a fishing line.
In 2022, a senior curator at the Natural History Museum said the prospects for the species were “not bright at all,” warning that due to human activities such as killing and urbanisation, it could become extinct from the Maltese islands in less than 50 years.
Malta is considered one of the more important sites in the Mediterranean for the Scopoli’s Shearwater.
Its breeding sites are protected as Natura 2000 sites – a network of protected sites across Europe identified as “core breeding and resting sites for rare and threatened species and some rare natural habitat types".
According to the Environment and Resources Authority, the species can be spotted between March and October. It only comes ashore at night during the breeding season, after which it flies out into the Atlantic Ocean along West Africa.