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By deploying bird scaring lines (tori lines) from trawl vessels, seabirds are prevented from colliding dangerously, and often fatally with the trawl cables. To assess the performance of the tori lines in the Namibian fishery we are carrying out trials onboard commercial vessels and demonstrating their use to the captains and crew.

The skipper, Mr. Hoffmann, was really interested. It was the first time he’d seen tori lines, although he was already aware of our work through our Albatross Task Force workshops. When accompanying me to the aft of the vessel to see my work he noticed how ‘the birds are only flying and foraging on the side where there is food’.

I showed him how the tori line works and he remarked on how they are easier to deploy than he thought and that and they are ‘very much important to reduce the impact rate’. The crew members, especially the boson, were also very interested. They commented that when there is a lot of discard loads of birds used to be close to the back of the boat but when the tori lines are deployed, they have seen a big difference and they think that this is really good work.

I was sharing the room with a fishery observer and the food I ate was really very delicious. All crew members were very friendly and were all very keen to know something that surprised me, almost all of them had the same question: ‘What is the economic importance of these seabirds? Are they edible?’ I explained about seabirds, their biology and conservation and provided reading materials for the crew.
The brochures in Namibia are written in two languages, English and Oshiwambo, so we can distribute them to every crew member and further explain so that they all understand the work of Albatross Task Force in Namibia.

The performance of the tori lines amazed everybody; they all supported the idea of placing tori lines on every trawl vessel to protect seabirds in Namibia. This is another step forward in reducing the accidental mortality of seabirds; by making practical demonstrations like this we can really make a difference on each vessel.

Back in July, we set sail from the port of Coquimbo in Chile with the challenge of studying mitigation measure design and the associated reduction of seabird bycatch. Historically, bycatch has been particularly high on the vessel that I have now joined for the next three months. This has been due, we suspect, to a more automated fishing operation on this large vessel, capable of spending large amounts of time at sea and setting huge numbers of hooks. The vessel is 56m long and can stay at-sea for up to three months!

Personally, this trip is a return to sea for me. After a couple of years away from the ocean waves after I worked on the first evaluation of seabird interactions with the deep sea toothfish fleet in the extreme south of Chile, I’m back. Now I am heading out again as an ATF instructor in the pelagic longline fleet, with more experience as a marine biologist and extra interest in the ecology and biology of seabirds.

Getting back to the current trip, I have already spent 57 days onboard. So far, we have been able to carry out all of the objectives we hoped to achieve. We have been testing two different tori line designs for this fleet, to see which one best protects the sinking hooks from seabirds as we set the fishing gear. By comparing the number of bird attacks we can understand what features of the different designs help dissuade the seabirds from taking baited hooks.

However, one of my preferred tasks onboard is the frequent count of seabirds around the vessel. This helps us understand the assemblage of seabird species that interact with the fishing vessels, principally attracted by the bait and discarded offal. In the Humboldt Current there are many interesting seabirds that are not found anywhere else, so it is a privilege to see them so often!

I’ve just returned from sea, it was a hard trip, but with a lot of positive energy and interesting results! We are currently working on a mitigation experiment that makes every trip a huge challenge. Each time we meet the challenge we are filled with motivation and enthusiasm to keep going and do even better!

On the first night, steaming toward the fishing grounds, the vessel crashed into a reef! I was in the bunk when I heard the sound of crunching metal against rock! I jumped out of my bunk and ran to the deck to find out what had happened. To my surprise, I was the first to arrive so tried to see some sign as to whether the vessel was sinking or not. I realised that we were apparently ok and that if any water was leaking in, it was slow enough to mean that we were in reach of rescue. 

The crew tried to find any signs of a hole or damage, but the dark night prevented easily determining this. With nothing found, we continued our journey. The next day, the mechanics informed the skipper that the vessel was gradually filling with water and that the water pump would not be enough to keep us dry. We had the option of returning to land or trying to patch the damaged hull. Two fishermen dived overboard and managed to screw a metal plate to cover the hole, allowing us to continue.

Amazingly, we spent 20 days at-sea in poor weather conditions, with just two calm days during the entire trip. During this time, we set 16 longlines for tuna and swordfish. I was hoping to use the tori-line on all sets, but only managed this on six occasions. This was because the gales and storm force waves caused the vessel to shake violently, breaking the locking system we used to hold the tori line to the side of the boat. With a broken locking system, the tori pole swung freely into the wrong position, ruining our tests.

I realise it may seem like something simple to fix, but I assure you that every procedure on a small vessel in rough seas is always much more complicated and dangerous than it appears! I had assistance from the crew to try to fix the pole but we were defeated! Indeed, even on reaching the calm waters of the port, it took four men with strong arms to replace the broken davit.

From the six sets we managed before the breakage, we suffered complicated entanglements between the gear and the tori line! This is where our good relations with the captain and crew are so important, they know what we are trying to achieve and give us huge support and understanding.

It is important though, for our research, to really test new designs in the most difficult conditions as what we eventually recommend will have to stand up to harsh environments every day. These results are crucial for our understanding of how we can continue to improve mitigation measures that save seabirds.

I’m really glad to be here sharing another adventure with you about how we work at sea saving albatrosses. All the best!

August was a very exciting and busy month for me. I managed to complete three sea trips and saw lots of albatrosses and petrels. One of these trips was unique and I had some unusual experiences!

The first experience was rescuing a white-chinned petrel one evening that crash-landed onto the deck when pushed from behind by another bird. It flapped around on deck all disoriented and frightened, so I carefully caught it, let it recover for a moment and then released it. It quickly flew off but had completely scratched my hands to pieces (I forgot to put on my gloves!).

The next rather unusual experience on this trip was having two sub-Antarctic skuas sit on my head while I was working at the back of the vessel. On one previous trip I actually had five of these big seabirds sit on my head but this time I tried to take some photos which actually didn’t come out too badly.

The one skua stayed on my head for a fair length of time and the skipper of the vessel was even able to sneak up behind me and take a photograph. Then last but not least I also managed to take a short video clip of this beautiful bird sitting on my head.

The last most unusual experience on this trip doesn’t actually involve a bird of any kind but instead a small black and white feral kitten. I had been told that there was a cat on board by the crew, but when this tiny, terrified, blaze of black and white streaked into the accommodation and disappeared into the first cabin it saw, things really changed. It could no longer be ignored and I had to catch it (as all the crew were really frightened of this tiny hissing and spitting ball of fluff) and keep it safe while we were at sea.

I managed to catch it in a box, fed it fresh fish all day and fresh water and kept it in my cabin for the rest of the trip. It never made a noise or fuss and only broke out of the box once when the weather was very rough and it calmly let me put it back in the box. When we returned to shore it spent the night at my flat before I took it to the Animal Anti-cruelty League to try and find it a home.

This trip has been my most interesting; especially as I saw a seabird for the first time - a snow-white form of a southern giant petrel accompanied by a northern and southern royal albatross! Very special indeed.

I have worked as a fisheries observer since January 2008, while finishing my studies towards a diploma in Oceanography. I recently joined the Albatross Task Force as one of their instructors and am very excited as I love seabirds and love working at sea. Meaning this job is perfect!

I’m also really looking forward to working with the various fishers and fishing industries in an effort to reduce the seabird by-catch.

My first trip to sea with the ATF was a training trip with my colleague Bronwyn. It was wonderful having the female company, as most of the times I’ve been to sea I’ve been the only woman on board! Not that the men on board aren’t good to me, on the contrary, they have always been very friendly, helpful and looked after me as one of their sisters!

Bronwyn trained me well on how to collect all the data that we need on seabird abundance and the interactions with fishing gear. Fortunately, my seabird identification skills are good so I was able to keep up with Bronwyn.

I managed to get the first photographs ever (although not too good) of an adult Salvin’s albatross off southern Africa and even saw a spectacled petrel on our last day! As part of the trip objectives we distributed reading material and chatted with the skipper and crew about what part they can play in the conservation of our seabirds. They were very keen to be involved. This is very positive news as this company has not had as much seabird coverage as others in South Africa.

On my second trip I saw and managed to get some photos of a Sub-Antarctic skua with a longline hook sticking out the side of its mouth. This was a sad and important reminder of how seabirds are impacted by fisheries and shows that even discarded hooks have negative effects on the birds that follow fishing vessels. Part of the work of the ATF is to educate the fishers about not discarding fish remains with hooks still attached to avoid these negative interactions.

The fisheries observer work was very different to the seabird work but I really love our beautiful birds and am very happy to be part of a very dynamic team making an effort to conserve them.

During this year our team has been trying out experiments to test the efficiency of tori lines. For a few months we were working on the design of the line that we were adapting to suit the fishery in Uruguay. As we already knew through our experiences onboard, the tori lines in can sometimes become entangled with the fishing gear, which can lead to the captains and crew being reluctant to use them.

Despite this, our team has carried out work with the crews, in the ports and onboard to explain the use of the tori lines and the benefits they bring. They reduce the capture of seabirds and so leave more baited hooks that will potentially catch more fish.

As part of this work, I made a trip to Santos in Brazil to share experiences with the Brazilian ATF team, where I found Leo, Fabiano and Caio. It was a great trip and I learnt about the Brazilian technique to build tori lines that they use in ports all through Brazil. It was interesting to see how the fleet in Brazil has been using tori lines for a long time and how experienced the fishing crews are to the procedures.

Returning to Uruguay, we made a few adjustments to the tori line, using my experiences from Brazil, before starting our experimental work at sea. We checked it out over the first few days and made some subtle modifications to get it just right.

Having decided that we had reached a highly effective model, we started the experimental trials, using the line in collaboration with other observers from the Uruguayan Tuna Fleet National Observer Programme (Programa Nacional del Observadores de la Flota Atunera Uruguaya). We built a set of lines for all the vessels and in August began collecting the first sets of data. Meanwhile Martin was at sea on another fishing vessel carrying out the same experiment so that we would get double the information.

We are essentially looking at the difference between using a tori line and not using one. So far, the only seabird bycatch we have seen has been when not using a tori line. Although it is early days, this is a good indication of the results to come that will be used in direct action for the conservation of seabirds in Uruguay.

While we are carrying out these experiments the observers from the National Programme have also been using the tori lines at sea on the fishing vessels and have been reporting very positive results.

My last trip at sea lasted 15 days and was aboard a vessel dedicated to fishing for swordfish; it was also one of the vessels that we chosen to test a tori line. This is for the experimental work that ATF Uruguay is carrying out this year.

We set ten lines, five with and five without the tori line. Despite a couple of minor glitches, the tori lines worked well and performed their function of scaring seabirds beautifully. Without doubt, getting the crew used to using these tori lines is a bit of a challenge, as it means they have to do something different in their daily routine.

However, it was a great pleasure to work with them, finding the most comfortable way to incorporate the task into their day and trying to ensure that it would be as little effort as possible for them.

Watching with the crew, we found the predictable results that show the hooks set under the protection of a tori line caught no birds whilst the sets without a tori line ended with seabird mortality. It is an important step, introducing a tori line to a new vessel has to be done carefully and under supervision.

The ship’s captain slightly modified his operational movements whilst setting the line to help using the tori line, small measures to maximise the efficiency of the procedure. It was rewarding to watch as he noted how the seabirds stayed away from the hook line and baits. 

During the trip we had good catches of the target species, again confirming what we have been saying all along, that the tori line not only avoids seabird bycatch but also the removal of baits from the hooks, which may imply a better fish catch.

We believe that it is good to show this to fishing captains, as they are the ones who take decisions onboard. If they are aware of the issue, they can take actions to avoid seabird bycatch and at the same time potentially improve their fish catch.

Martin.

Hello everybody!

I have just returned from my first cruise leaving from the port of Rio Grande. I already knew the skipper, Mr. Celso, as he has helped us with the conservation of albatrosses in the past. But he has just changed boat to smaller one, and this new one did not have a tori line installed! As Celso knows of the proposed mitigation measures, he has been setting the fishing gear late at night to avoid seabird bycatch.

Celso is a good captain, he is aware that by only using this measure there is still a risk of catching seabirds, so we are now helping him install a tori line on the new vessel.

As we were at sea for just nine days, it was a very short trip when compared it to typical pelagic longline trip. This is because Celso was aiming to get the fish to market as quickly as possible.

He also changed the fishing gear configuration; making the length of the hook lines and buoy lines longer. This helps catch fish at greater depths, targeting several species of tuna. This configuration also reduces the incidental capture of sea turtles, which is good for turtle conservation as they’re caught more often in shallower waters. As long as we can make sure we keep the lines correctly weighted, this change will not risk capture of seabirds.

Many seabirds followed the ship, including wandering albatrosses, giant petrels, yellow-nosed albatrosses, black-browed albatrosses, spectacled petrels, white-chinned petrels, fulmars and many storm petrels. With so many birds attending the vessel, our night setting regime clearly helped achieve a zero mortality count.

During the trip, we also encountered a family of orcas and a large group of dolphins! These are frequent visitors that we see off the coast of Brazil and always provide us with an exhilarating experience as we work on deck with the fishermen.

The sea was relatively calm, but as the boat was tiny, it felt like a storm! Although I regularly fell over on deck, it does not show inexperience, as despite their sea legs three fishermen also fell more than once in the slippery conditions! It is a good opportunity for me to emphasize that we are not in our natural environment at sea - we are always visitors, so we must respect it!

Finally guys, I hope I've shared some of my work experiences, which I am very positive and enthusiastic about!

Let’s keep saving the birds! Until next time…

In the first Albatross Task Force workshop held in Chile early this year, all teams committed to conducting research to improve mitigation measure performance and thus further reduce seabird bycatch levels. The South African team has committed to two experiments; one in the trawl fishery which you can read in Bronwyn’s diary and one in the pelagic longline fishery which is the one I’m busy doing.

Last year we tested the newly developed Safe Leads. These are specially designed replacements for normal lead swivels. Lead swivels have been known to cause terrible injuries to fishermen and the Safe Leads can prevent that happening and save birds too!

They add weight to the line and therefore increase the sink rate of hooks, which limits the time that bait is available for albatrosses. By using a tori line at the same time, fishermen can avoid killing birds and stay safe. In order to be able to recommend the use of Safe Leads we need to prove that it doesn’t negatively impact the catch rates of fish.

A local longline vessel; Admiral De Ruiter agreed to accommodate me to conduct the research. It took quite a while to get everything ready but by the end of July we made our first trip. Conducting research at sea is not a simple task! It is highly important that the crew understand what I’m doing, so while we steamed to the fishing grounds I got them all together and explained about the study.

This was my fifth trip onboard this vessel so the guys knew me and were used to the ‘weird’ stuff I do to save albatrosses. The crew were very cooperative and without their help I wouldn’t be able to do this work. Unfortunately, the fishing was not very good. The second trip was even worse; we caught less fish and had to come back early due to a mechanical problem; the steering system broke and we had to manoeuvre the vessel by hand!! My job was to shout ‘port’, ‘starboard’ or ‘mid ship’ whenever the vessel was out of course.

This weekend we’re going to try again and I sincerely hope that this time the fish will decide to bite the bait so we can get some of the experimental data we need!

In the first six months of the fishing season, I have mainly been focussed on getting the mitigation research plan up and running for the pelagic longline fishery. This fleet targets swordfish from the port of Coquimbo and currently includes seven vessels.

The research plan has the comparison of two bird-scaring line designs as its main objective, whilst at the same time we are taking the opportunity to get the fishermen used to these newly improved devices in all their fishing operations.

We are carrying out this work together with scientific observers from the Chilean Fishery Institute (IFOP). They are responsible for the monitoring the fisheries along the length of the Chilean coast. We have had total support from the fishermen and the professional approach from the observers gives us a lot of confidence about the quality of the information we are collecting.

I have just got back from a meeting with the observer who will work onboard the FV Vama II, a fishing vessel that has had few fishing trips this year but appears to be ready to head to the high seas.

My work has consisted in preparing the observers with the seabird protocols designed for the experiments and onboard observations, sorting the forms and equipment necessary to complete the work. Our work is based on the design used by Washington Sea Grant for the Alaskan fishery in the North Pacific.

My time has also been spent with the captains and crew in the port, which has been really important to ensure the officials and managers of the observers in Valparaiso are kept in touch with our movements in Coquimbo. This has mainly involved meetings and the preparation of agreements between us to help keep a collaborative momentum in Chile.

It is important to highlight that the collaborative work between the Albatross Task Force and IFOP has generated a mutual interest in creating a strategic alliance. This will not just work with mitigation aboard vessels in the pelagic fleet but also with other fleets that may present levels of seabird bycatch along the lengthy coastline of Chile.

During the fourth week of my most recent trip we arrived at the southernmost point of the journey, just 130 km from the Isla de los Estados and the famous lighthouse at the end of the world!

As we moved slowly back north, due of low catches in the south, I started testing our trawl mitigation measures; these are designed to keep seabirds away from the danger zone between the trawl warp cables (the cables that hold the net) and the vessel. Testing them is a crucial part of our work as we can compare seabird interactions during the use of mitigation measures against normal fishing operations without these measures.

This is where the offal discards are dumped, attracting albatrosses looking for an easy meal. The problem is that as the cables cut through the water during a trawl, they can push foraging seabirds under the water, or break their wings. Simple mitigation measures can stop this occurring.

I used a tori line for this first test; 25m of rope tied to the stern with an orange buoy at the end and several pairs of orange streamers tied to the rope. These dangle down, scaring the seabirds. The first tests went well: no birds collided with the cables, whereas more than 10 heavy impacts every 30 minutes were recorded without a tori line.

However, in the strong winds of the southern seas I recognised a problem; as the tori line is at the surface, it is subject to buffeting from the wind and waves. These push the tori line in the opposite direction to the cables and they can become entangled. Entanglements can lead to a reduced effectiveness of the tori line and be problematic for the crew.

In order to avoid entanglements, I designed a device using equipment aboard the vessel. With the help of the crew and the ship’s tools, we made a kind of surfboard.

We called this prototype The surfboard. I added this to the tori line to keep it from tangling with the cables. With this simple device the toriline tended to steer away from the cables as the boat moved forward and thus reduced any potential entanglements whilst still keeping seabirds away from the danger area.

After this preliminary testing of The surfboard I found that it works! Eureka! The tori line with the surfboard was separated from the cables. We will continue testing this and refining the mitigation throughout the year, so watch this space!

I was recently invited by the International School to give a talk to their students about my work - a brilliant opportunity as many of the kids have parents involved in the fishing industry.

In fact, my invitation came about because two of the senior students had done a project about a year ago on seabird bycatch, which won second prize in a national school science competition, and which had been the suggestion of the father of one student as he is a captain on a trawler.

For my talk, I bought along 'Abigail', my soft toy albatross, and 'dressed her up' with tags, which I then used to help talk to the kids about a long-term study conducted on Gough Island.

I told the students about 'Yellow A43', a male Tristan albatross (listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN) that hatched on Gough Island in 1999. He spent several years at-sea before returning to his nest site to start breeding with a life-long partner.

During routine survey work in February 2007, albatross Yellow A43 was seen on a nest incubating his own egg. By September 2007 his egg had developed into a young chick thanks to dedicated parental care.

However, in November 2007, Yellow A43 was killed by a longline vessel fishing 2,900 km north of his nest site where his young chick was preparing to fledge. Tristan albatross chicks fledge in December, so it is possible that Yellow A43's chick survived despite the untimely death of one of its parents, but we just don't know.

This story really illustrates the plight of the albatross, and why my job is so important - adults foraging for food for their hungry chick place themselves at extreme risk. In a population as small as the Tristan albatross (there are less than 2,000 pairs), a broken pair bond due to the death of one adult would result in the surviving adult not breeding for at least one or two seasons, or longer if it can't find a new mate.

I have just returned from a very exciting and fun-filled few days in Sedgefield and Mossel Bay. For those of you not from South Africa, these towns are located along our east coast, and apparently Mossel Bay has the second best climate in the world!

My colleague and I took a comfortable 5-hour drive down to Sedgefield, where I had offered to give a talk to the Lakes Bird Club, a member of BirdLife South Africa.

I arrived a little nervous; as this was the first public talk I was giving as an Albatross Task Force Instructor. But after meeting a few of the members, my nervousness turned to excitement.

I spoke for an hour on the work of the Task Force in South Africa to 27 members of their club, and was asked loads of questions, mostly related to my time at sea, such as 'Do you get seasick?' and 'What are conditions on the vessels like, especially for a woman?'

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the club, letting people into our life with seabirds.

And for our next adventure

Next we drove to Mossel Bay, to begin our next adventure for the week.

Here we joined the WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature) team to give a two day workshop to the inshore and offshore hake trawl fishermen in the area.

We invite fishermen, government and industry to attend. The course revolves around what's called an 'Ecosystem Approach' to fisheries, highlighting issues on bycatch, pollution and ghost fishing, as well as explaining the need for responsible fisheries practices and good compliance and management of the fishery.

The inshore hake trawl fishery in South Africa is only encouraged, but not required, to use tori lines. We had good discussions around this topic and it seems that they mostly make voluntary use of them, even if it is only one tori line flown on the side the vessel is discarding. There were also lots of fun activities for everyone to get involved in.

All in all, it was a very successful course, and as always we learnt a thing or two from the fishermen as well!

The big news from Namibia is that we have now begun our research project, and flown the first ever bird-scaring tori lines on a trawler in Namibia.

This honour fell to the MFV Fisherbank belonging to Hangana, a Namibian company that has been very supportive of our work. The crew were fantastic, and really chipped in with the new challenge of deploying and retrieving the tori lines.

As hoped, the tori lines behaved well and really did what was expected - keeping birds from being struck by the warp cables.

We were at sea for 10 days, and luckily had a few days of warm, calm weather with no wind. However, that didn't last and I had to hold on tight during the days when we experienced rough five metre swells.

Unexpected visitor

On this trip I found our work does not always involve birds, when a fruit bat unexpectedly landed on the vessel. We were 80 km off-shore at the time, so quickly rescued the creature to be set free on our return to the north of Namibia where they occur.

I am really looking forward to my next trip that starts next week, so we can carry on this fantasic work saving albatrosses.

Tori lines (or bird-scaring lines) are one of the measures most commonly used to reduce seabirds from being accidentally killed by longline vessels.

In previous years we have undertaken trips on Uruguayan longline vessels to get crews to use them. Unfortunately, we've found that some tori lines can become entangled with the fishing gear when the fishing lines are set. They can also cause delays in the fishing operation – hence why they've not been well received by crews.

This year, we've been asking our fellow Albatross Task Force crews working in other countries to come up with a solution. And we think the Brazil team have come up with something....

During my last trip in May we tested their design on a fisheries research cruise with the rest of the Uruguayan Task Force team. We were able to make some modifications throughout the trip, and now seabirds are can't access the baited hooks as the longline is set.

These modifications improved the performance of the tori line, and the results were a double positive as there were fewer entanglements with the fishing gear.

We are now preparing further sea trips where we will use the tori lines on vessels from the Uruguayan commercial fleet., and test the tori lines success at reducing the capture of albatross and petrels..