I was recently aboard a 30-metre long Uruguayan longline vessel targeting swordfish for 14 days. Due to bad weather, it was only possible to fish for seven of those days.
During the first set of the fishing lines, a bird-scaring line was used to help prevent seabird bycatch. Unfortunately, the bird-scaring line did not work as hoped and we had to remove it to prevent complications with the fishing operations, as it was getting entangled. This gave us a good challenge - to work out a different, better design.
At the same time, it is important to keep up the search for new alternative solutions to reduce the capture of seabirds. We tried setting the fishing lines at night and this time no birds were caught.
Five seabirds were caught during the haul back of the longline - two black-browed albatrosses, two great shearwaters and one sooty shearwater. Fortunately, all five birds were released alive.
Whilst I was on board, I spoke frequently with the fishermen about the issue of seabirds and fisheries and I gave out educational materials to help inform them better. Since I started working aboard the vessels as an observer, and particularly with seabirds I have noticed a change in many sailors' attitudes. They are slowly developing a consciousness of the problem.
Today, many of the sailors know that the albatross and petrels are as risk of extinction and that the capture of only a very few birds on one vessel can contribute to the deaths of many birds at a global level and therefore the reduction of the overall population numbers.
During the later half of June it was off to sea again on the Irvin & Johnson wet-fish trawler, the Stevia.
Once again I was looking at making the tori lines (bird scaring lines) work their best to prevent seabird deaths. Naturally, winter is the season when seabirds are most abundant in our waters. I was also looking at testing a PVC tube (two tubes two metres in length and 110 mm in diameter) to set the fishing line through attached to a warp (cable) and lowered to just below the water line.
The skipper, Colin Jansen, was as keen as mustard to try the device and with a few modifications we gave it a go. Unfortunately the vibration of the warp did not allow for rapid deployment and removal.
Fishing had been particularly good for several weeks and we were landing some good bags of which a large percentage was PQ (prime quality). Very little whole hake was discarded and the majority of interactions in the warp area were with adult black-browed albatrosses and Cape gannets. White-capped (shy group) albatrosses tended to forage further astern in the 30 metre area.
Four black-browed albatrosses, two Cape gannets and one subantarctic skua were dragged under by the warp, but none were drowned. Several of these incidences took place during the deployment of tori lines. My work involves comparing interactions with and without tori lines being flown but these near-drownings invariably take place when cross-winds are present and the warp/water interface is exposed.
Winter is a great time to be at sea if you are want to see a good range of birds. Patience is often rewarded with time at sea and, as Gary Player a famous South African golfer once said, 'the more I practice, the luckier I get', and so my lucky number came up on 28 June with an adult Chatham albatross, which breeds off New Zealand, foraging 15 metres or so behind the vessel.
This beautiful, dark grey-headed bird with a bright yellow bill was foraging on a jacopever, a bright pinkish/orange scorpionfish. If only I had a camera it would have made National Geographic material. This is my second sighting of this species in our waters and the fourth for the continent!
Less than 24 hours after I sent my first diary, I finally received a long awaited call allowing me to board the FV Sirius III, a 60 metre-long 'freshie' trawler ship. I left the Mar del Plata port on 26 April at 6 pm. We started the voyage with a hard swell and the skipper Ruben Rodriguez, who has a long experience in these waters; we started our trip in the south, but hakes are in the northern waters!
My main objective of this first trip on Argentinean waters was to make new contact with the fishery, the crews of these vessels and find out how many seabirds are currently dying in this fishery. Also, it is crucial for future work to get empathy with the vessel's crew straightaway. The target species captured by this fishery is the Argentina hake, but rays and pink cusk-eel are commercial, too.
In the first two days of fishing, the swell and wind were hard with waves of more than four metres. This meant more seabirds to see and enjoy! Black-browed albatrosses, white-chinned petrels and great shearwaters are very common in this fishing ground. Southern giant, Wilson's storm and cape petrels can also be seen but the best days saw the appearance of royal and shy albatrosses.
By the end of the trip, I had recorded the capture of three great shearwaters entangled in the net. The vulnerability resides with their skill for diving. When they submerge they get entangled with the net at the moment the fishermen haul the catch.
Another source of seabird mortality in this fishery is the impacts against the warp cables. In a few words, the net works on the sea bottom and the vessel pushes it from the surface. The cables connect the vessel and the net. Seabirds typically fly and forage near to the vessels looking for discarded fish and occasionally collide with the cables.
From 34.5 hours of cable observations, I recorded 154 impacts of seabirds. Only four caused damage to the seabirds (two great shearwaters and two black-browed albatrosses). One of the albatrosses was possibly killed by the impact, but it is difficult to determine.
Accurate observations on cables are very important because is the only way to find out and record these kind of events. Once dead, the birds normally get washed off the cables and sink quite deep, so the probability of recovering the dead birds is low. This means our ability to estimate the true impact of the fishery is reduced.
Twenty men were the crew of the Sirius III, half of them fishermen who have contact with the net, the catch and eventually seabirds. So this is the more important portion of the crew in relation to our work. Fortunately, they have showed an interest in learning more about seabirds.
A Wilson's storm petrel collided against the hull of the vessel during a night haul. The bird survived unhurt and it was an excellent opportunity for showing them the beak, wings and feet of the birds. This activity triggers a lot of questions about seabirds.
My return was on 9 May at 1 am to a luminous Mar del Plata.
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 Catarina State (25-30 days), this happens mainly on account of the size of the boats. Itaipava's fleet is composed of smaller vessels (10-15 metres)
But the voyage suffered a reduced duration due to larger forces than the dimensions of the boats...
We departed from the port of Itaipava on April 7, 2008, on the Veremos 'We'll see' fishing vessel, run by the skipper Marcelo (nickname: Gato 'Cat') and equipped with 'longlines', used primarily to capture swordfish and sharks. We sailed for three days in a very enjoyable sea conditions, to the Elevação do Rio de Janeiro 'Rio de Janeiro Rise', approximately 300 miles from Cabo Frio/Rio de Janeiro State (the nearest port).
At the end of the third day (10 April), in the afternoon, we conducted our first 'longline' release, composed of a spool with approximately 23 miles of main line and 630 hooks.
To target sharks, the buoys that are attached to the main line had the cables reduced, which therefore reduces the depth of the longline (leaving it close to the surface). This targeting really worked! The next day, during the collection of longline, which pass overnight in the water, they captured 19 blue sharks, plus two swordfishes and four ratfishes.
The second fishing session took place on the following day, using the same guidelines, but with a lower catch, blue shark = 9, swordfish = 2, ratfish = 2, and a black ray, handed back to the sea.
Initially, we didn't have any seabirds accompany us . Only, at the very end of the fishing session two Wilson's storm petrels and one great shearwater appeared.
And when we set the third line...
The crew caught sight of a buoy loose at sea, lost by some Japanese fishing vessel. They usually collect this kind of material, adding it to their equipment. Just as we slowed down, there was a strong noise from the engine. After this noise the vessel could not be put into the forward or reverse speed! The gearbox wasn't working.
We were more than 300 miles off the coast, and without any kind of propulsion, the boat was adrift...
We called on the radio, asking for support (someone who had a suitable spare part or could tow us). The closest boat was 80 miles away, another Itaipava fishing vessel, which left the port on the same day, with us... Thus... had few days fishing and if it was to tow us to port, their fishing would fail as well, and they wouldn't be able to pay the output costs, which are extremely high!
Yet this boat came up to us, to tow us to another boat that was returning to the port:
* We had to be very careful... removing the fishing lines and hook that had already been set before the incident! * It was more than two miles of long line and hundreds of hooks, without the winch, just by hand!
Everyone was relieved by the help that arrived at the end of the night.
We spent one day being towed to another vessel which was distant. We were 100 miles away from the coast. Coming up to them, we changed the chain cable to the other craft and started what would be a new struggle... This second one was even more difficult. The other vessel, also from Itaipava, was already heavily loaded, and then increasing wind and waves came...
We took more four days being towed to the Itaipava port, and on the second day, the chain cables broke several times, under the waves, which came high abruptly!
But in general, on the next days, it was really more calm, drawing the time, with good conversation, learning and exchanging information with the skipper and all the crew, thus bringing us closer. They were very receptive and willing to cooperate with future trips.
As they had a television and a DVD player on the boat, we showed them our publicity film about different ways to protect seabirds. Eventually we arrived back to port safe and well.
Three weeks after coming back from South America (January entry) I packed my bags and flew to the east coast of South Africa where I was planned to go to sea on a swordfish longliner for a two week trip.
The week before the trip I spent in one of the jewel spots of South Africa, Sodwana Bay, the only place in SA where both Leatherback and Loggerhead turtles nest. There I helped MDM scientists to collect sea turtle data and set satellite trackers in an effort to learn more about these vulnerable animals. I hope to help this project by collecting data at sea as we really know little about these guys' movements here in South Africa.
After this exciting week (where I celebrated my birthday), I went to sea onboard the 'Two Boys'. This trip was planned to complete data collection from this part of the country as I have been here two years ago collecting winter data and now summer.
And summer means very little birds, only ONE albatross and ONE white-chinned petrel for the whole (14 days) trip! On the other hand, some nice birds showed up and I even managed to see some birds for the very first time - tropical and wedge-tailed shearwaters. The wedge-tailed shearwaters were photographed - one was a white morph, only the second record in South Africa.
As no birds were caught, I dedicated this trip to trying new data collection methods and learnt lots from it. We built and tried a tori line and Butie, the skipper, showed great spirit as he jumped up and down changing the boat's speed to my request. I tested the affect of speed on line sinking rate which is crucial for keeping the birds out of the hooks' reach (the faster the hooks sink, the less time the seabirds have to catch it).
Coming back to land, I met three fishery inspectors and gave them a spontaneous seabird bycatch workshop on the boat. I showed them a tori line and explained what they should check (regarding mitigation measures) on the longliners when they inspect them. A couple of weeks later, I got a call from Butie saying the inspectors are doing their job well and asking to see the tori (the one we made!).
I then went back to Sodwana Bay and gave two talks to the local schoolkids and a diver masters' training there. After a few days - off to Jo'burg to attend a BirdLife South Africa staff meeting and after giving a talk to a local club, I went back home (Cape Town). It was a long and eventful month!
My next update will tell all about the work we're doing here in Cape Town with the skippers. A lot has been happening in the last few months and as I predicted, it's going to be a very exciting year - and everyday I'm proved right!