This week I am back on dry land. The last trip was tiring as we ended up staying out at sea a week longer than we anticipated as in the first week the tuna catch was so low that the skipper decided they needed to stay out until they had caught enough fish.
The second week, in just one day, we caught two tons of tuna and then the skipper decided to stay even longer and the next two days yielded nothing! That's the way it goes out at sea.
Sadly, the 'missing fish' meant that the lines had to be set multiple times. Every line is baited with thousands of potential albatross traps. This boat already had its own streamer line, but the crew often found it became tangled with the longline. I worked with them to show them different ways of using the streamer.
The crew even started to design new streamers and suggested different materials that could be used! When I left this boat, I felt pretty confident that in future they will use the streamer line effectively.
Unfortunately, for lots of crews, the priority is getting the line out and the fish caught. There is a long road ahead to persuade all the longline boats to try to avoid catching seabirds - but we're working on it!
Next week I'll be back out at sea - a different boat, a different crew. I'll let you know how I get on...