A couple of days ago both Nahuel Chavez and I set out on a coastal trawler from the port of Necochea. Our intention was to try out our new tori line that we have built for the few longline vessels that operate in Argentina, and also to test the latest model of the Tamini Tabla (first called the Surf Board) for the large trawlers.
We steamed out of port at 0930 with good weather predicted on the forecast, which can sometimes fall short of complete accuracy… as we left the security of the calm waters in the port we realised that this was one of those days. Large waves washed over us, reaching over two metres high and our vessel was only twelve meters in total! However, we only needed to steam out for a few hundred metres to find deep enough water to test the gear so at 1030 we started work. Even though we had only steamed a short distance we were amongst the albatross, with quite a few Black-browed albatross accompanying the vessel all day.
Our intention was to test how mush area our new tori line would be able to protect – how light was the design and how well would it fly behind vessels at different speeds with different towed objects for tension. We had 150 metres of tori line so the buoys and the Tamini Tabla had a tough job to do if we were to generate good height and tension.
The results were really promising! The tori line functioned better than we had hoped with 80 to 85 meters aerial extension (the part that is effective in preventing seabird deaths) despite the strong winds and heavy seas we had that day. More over, conversations with the fishing crew lead to some interesting ideas that we would be able to incorporate into the tori line and Tamini Tabla design. Such discussions are always productive and never fail to be a positive influence on our work.
Our work on the smaller vessels, although not our target audience, is important to facilitate the development of adequate materials for mitigation measures and design tweaks. If we tried to do this at-sea on the industrial vessels it would be complicated as once you are on there is no chance of returning to pick up an alternative material – you are stuck there for 60 days!
Along with discussions with other ATF instructors, our work on small vessels helps us to develop the very best quality materials for use in different fisheries and ultimately design mitigation measures that are as practical and functional as possible. This makes them more attractive as an option for individual fishermen and the entire fleet.
That’s how we work in the Task Force!