The Problem of Bird Interactions With Recreational Fishing: A Review Based on Print and Online Sources

This study analyses 14 print publications and 369 online sources from Northern Eurasia within the borders of the former USSR, published between 2004 and 2025. These sources document 407 cases of interactions between birds and recreational hook-and-line tackle. Seventy-four bird species belonging to 13 orders and 26 families were identified. The orders Charadriiformes (22 species/141 cases) and Anseriformes (13 species/118 cases) led in terms of taxonomic diversity and number of observations. The majority of incidents involved birds from the ecological group of waterfowl and wading birds (68.9% and 82.6% of the total species and observations, respectively). Bird mortality from fishing tackle was recorded 31 times. The causes of death were equally frequent: 1) accidental hooking and entanglement in fishing line during active fishing and 2) entanglement in lost or discarded fishing tackle in bodies of water. In popular recreational fishing areas, discarded fishing line and other fragments of fishing tackle are a primary source of environmental pollution and pose a significant threat to bird populations. The results of this analysis indicate an existing conflict between the hobby of recreational angling and the necessity for bird population conservation.