Northern Gannet with rope

The most shocking thing I’ve see during the past week at sea (or maybe the past year at sea even) were the large amount of Northern Gannets flying around the ship with ropes attached to their bills. I think I’ve seen at least ten different individuals with ropes. Apparently they often see something colourful floating around in the ocean, maybe even with some bait attached to it, dive in it and stuck they are… And these are probably the lucky ones, I guess the majority of the birds will stay stuck under water and will drown…

Another reason to have a good look at the way we treat our oceans…