During dedicated surveys along the Belgian shoreline 10,156 birds covering more than a 100 species have been found beached since the winter 1991/1992. The most frequently encountered species is the Common Guillemot, representing one out of three beached birds found, followed by Herring Gull, Oystercatcher, Northern Fulmar, Kittiwake and Razorbill.

Out of the 10,260 beached birds 56 were entangled (0,6%). The species distribution of the entangled birds greatly differed from that of beached birds, indicating strong species specific differences in sensitivity to entanglement. Gannets tend to be the most impacted: representing one third of the 56 entangled birds and also the most sensitive: 1/10 of the beached Gannets were entangled. Amongst the 13 entangled species, half of the entangled bird species were deep divers: Gannet, Great Cormorant, Red-throated Diver, Great Crested Grebe, Razorbill and Common Guillemot. Our results are in accordance with results of other European studies on diving species’ entanglement.

Bids are essentially entangled in fishing gear with rope, lining and net consisting more than the half of the entanglements.

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