Many animals have sensory biases towards signals or cues that typically provide some fitness benefit. Sensory traps occur when other species or anthropogenic sources produce similar signals or cues but responding is no longer adaptive and can impose significant costs or even death. Bycatch of seabirds by fishing boats has devastating impacts, causing hundreds of thousands of seabird deaths per annum. Here, we explore whether fishing vessels are acting as a sensory trap, inadvertently targeting seabirds with certain life-history traits or larger skeletal or sensory structures. We surveyed the literature to compare seabird order, diet, wingspan, body size, and nesting preference (surface or burrow) of 70 seabirds with varying numbers of reported bycatch in one of the world’s most important regions for seabird breeding, in northern Aotearoa New Zealand. We also examined the skeletal and sensory measurements of six seabirds that co-occur spatially in this region, but have different numbers of reported bycatch and indices of bycatch risk. The literature survey revealed that the Charadriiformes and the Sphenisciformes were the most vulnerable groups (p = 0.01), especially to surface longline fisheries. There were no correlations with diet and foraging behaviour, but surface nesting seabirds and those with larger bodies and wingspans were at a greater risk of becoming bycatch. Skeletal measurements show that species with higher bycatch also have relatively larger skulls, bills and wings, eye sockets and nostrils (relative to body size) (p < 0.05). This suggests that having a larger overall body size and longer protruding body parts is a primary risk factor, but that species with relatively more sensitive sensory systems likely have even more acute bycatch risk. Considering fishing vessels as sensory traps provides a context to explore the multiple interconnecting factors of sensory sensitivity, sensory bias, behaviour and morphology.

许多动物对信号或提示的感觉偏差通常会提供一定的健身益处。当其他物种或人为来源产生相似的信号或提示时，就会发生感觉陷阱，但响应已不再具有适应性，可能会造成巨大的代价，甚至造成死亡。渔船兼捕海鸟具有毁灭性影响，每年造成成千上万的海鸟死亡。在这里，我们探索渔船是否充当了感官陷阱，无意中将目标对准了具有某些生命历史特征或更大的骨骼或感觉结构的海鸟。我们调查了相关文献，比较了70个海鸟的海鸟次序，饮食，翼展，体型和筑巢偏好（表面或洞穴），这些鸟在世界上最重要的海鸟繁殖区之一中有多种报告的兼捕物，在新西兰北部的Aotearoa。我们还检查了在该区域在空间上共存的六只海鸟的骨骼和感觉测量结果，但是报告的兼捕物数量和兼捕风险指数不同。文献调查显示，Charadriiformes和Sphenisciformes是最脆弱的群体（p  = 0.01），特别是对延绳钓渔业。饮食和觅食行为没有相关性，但表层筑巢海鸟以及具较大身躯和翼展的海鸟更易成为兼捕物。骨骼测量结果显示，兼捕量较高的物种也具有相对较大的头骨，喙和翅膀，眼窝和鼻孔（相对于体型）（p  <0.05）。这表明具有较大的整体体形和较长的突出的身体部位是主要的危险因素，但是具有相对较敏感的感觉系统的物种可能具有更高的急性兼捕风险。将渔船视为感官陷阱为探索感官敏感性，感官偏见，行为和形态的多个相互联系的因素提供了背景。