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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...
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Hello companions, it is with great satisfaction that I'm sharing with you my activities. As Martin Abreu, an Albatross Task Force member working in Brazil, said recently, we are at such an 'important moment'. The Brazilian and Uruguay Albatross Task Forces are working together so we can find...
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Hello to all albatross fans! We don't just speak to fishermen at sea. Most fishermen spend long periods of time at-sea and as there are only a few ATF instructors around, we try to meet them in between their trips. Albatross Task Force South Africa has for the last three years been conducting training...
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On return from the ATF meeting in Chile, I had a meeting with my colleague, the Itajaí representative of Projeto Albatroz, Patricia Mancini, and she updated me about the longline fleet in port and what has happened in Itajaí during my 15 days of absence. Several changes had occurred in...
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I have just returned from my first trip with Itaipava fleet in Brazil. It was in at the deep end. We got into a dangerous situation and had to rescued! The fishing cruises in this region tend to be shorter (15-18 days), when compared to the fleet of Santos/São Paulo State and Itajaí/Santa...
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Having been selected as one of the first two Albatross Task Force (ATF) instructors in Uruguay, I arranged my first trip to sea. The Uruguayan longline fleet had been less active recently due to relatively low catches, but seeing that the vessels were starting to head out again, I secured a position...
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In May-June 2007, 12 longline vessels from Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines received a permit to fish in South African waters, targeting mainly tuna and swordfish. According to the South African law, every one of these vessels must carry an observer at all times. These observers who were trained...
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We sailed to the south, and the sea is very agitated and I'm worried because maybe we won't set today. A day without working means one more day at the sea, which makes the fishermen upset. But I carry on testing different techniques to help save albatrosses. 17 June The fishing productivity was...
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Good fishing... We are a little below parallel of 30º S next to the meridian 48º W. The sea is in such a hard way and we are sailing in direction to a cold front that approaches. The unusual meeting with another longline fishing vessel, also from Itajaí Port, the FV Ipe VI, brought a...
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At the moment I am in between two trips. I have just spent a week in the wonderful town of Walvis Bay, Namibia. Walvis Bay holds the biggest fleet of hake longliners in Namibia, along with a large number of trawlers and open-sea long-liners operating from there. Namibia has adopted a National Plan of...
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We have 75 confirmed attendees for the hake longline workshop this week, which includes boat owners, skippers, crew and representatives from Marine and Coastal Management. I’m looking forward to building a relationship with this group. Currently, this type of longline sinks very slowly, and the...
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First, here's a little about me. I have always been fascinated by marine life and living in such a beautiful and diverse country as South Africa, really motivated me to work as a conservationist. My aspirations grew and progressed into a determination to study Marine Ecology at the University of...