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Every year BirdLife South Africa gathers a congregation of very knowledgeable scientists and birders to discuss issues around bird conservation. This annual gathering has since been coined ‘FLOCK’ and it is BirdLife South Africa’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). This year, however was...

As the Albatross Task Force team leader for South Africa, I was recently asked to provide some fishery observer training slightly further from home than usual. Excitingly I was to travel to Korea and conduct a one-day training workshop with Korean fisheries observers and scientists from the South East...

During eight days at-sea we only managed to half-fill the fish hold on this fishing vessel. This explains how the fishing has been recently. We can’t blame it on the weather because most of the days were fine. However, there were some few days when the sea was rough with strong winds, thus making...

ATF instructors’ work is amazing and something to keep smiling about. Apart from testing seabird bycatch mitigation measures, ATF instructors have other forms of entertainment that keeps them refreshed at all times. A normal day starts with breakfast wonderfully prepared by the wonderful ship’s...

Albatross Task Force instructors have many responsibilities that include but are not-limited to working with fisheries. Of course, our main objective is seabird conservation and we do that by finding ways to work together with the fishers to reduce bycatch levels in the industry. This objective is facilitated...

In the impoverished community of Ocean View lies a team of dedicated and inspiring people... A group of disabled men and woman from the Ocean View Association for Persons with Disabilities (OVAPD) proves that anybody with commitment can make a real difference to conservation, while learning new skills...

The moment I’d been waiting for finally arrived. After being confined to the office due the cancellation of my last trip, I could not wait to set a foot on the Irvin & Johnson (I&J) fishing vessel the Forest Lily . Bronwyn, the South African Albatross Task Force project leader accompanied...

The ATF in South Africa is working to disseminate seabird conservation information and to demonstrate best practice measures on board vessels to reduce seabird bycatch. Conducting research on board local and foreign fishing vessels is a large part of that process. Research findings are made available...

We were extremely excited to welcome Allen Tshautshau as the newest member of the Albatross Task Force team in South Africa in early July. He is an extremely enthusiastic and passionate conservationist and wasted no time in getting down to the grind stone. On only his second day on the job he arrived...

This month I thought it would be a good idea to follow on from one of my Brazilian colleague’s diaries which highlighted the poor attitude of some fishermen towards seabirds. His diary can be found here , as a reminder of the problem. I have only ever seen one or two birds with broken bills...

The South African Albatross Task Force team, together with an observer agency ( CapFish ) and government representatives, conduct briefings with the fishing masters of the Asian longline fleet. This year was the same as other years and we managed to conduct briefings for all fishing masters of the 11...

Each year thousands of seabirds are accidentally killed while foraging behind fishing vessels in the world’s oceans. Thanks to a device known as a bird scaring line, which is flown behind vessels to protect the danger areas, seabird bycatch has been reduced in some fisheries by up to 90%. Ocean...

Cory’s shearwater breed on islands in the Mediterranean and north-west Atlantic Ocean, after which they migrate down through the Atlantic and onto the western Indian Ocean. They are common summer visitors to southern Africa, especially off the western and southern coast, while more scarce off the...

The Albatross Task Force is working with the longline industry in South Africa, where recently we came across a very rare seabird in our waters – a Tristan Albatross, which was accidentally caught as we were conducting a routine trip onboard one of our local vessels. What makes this all the more...

An emerging mitigation measure – the Hook-pod is currently being tested in South Africa and have been well-received by local fishermen. Their first impression was a feeling of awe. I can recall one skipper at Cape Town harbour calling them ‘precious toys’. My response to him was that...

Wow, what an event it was. The event was so immaculately organised in such a beautiful country like Uruguay. I personally was elated to meet the entire Albatross Task Force (ATF) team for the first time. The event had such an awesome atmosphere with such fascinating people who possess so much knowledge...

It was one of the most beautiful afternoons and an anxious one for me. The design of a demersal trawler struck my attention. It is such an incredible feeling that one needs to be actually onboard a trawler to begin to comprehend such a euphoria. The smell of diesel and oil on the vessel couldn’t...

Richard's Bay Over the last eight months I’ve been working off Richard's Bay, in the east coast of South Africa, collecting more data for the Albatross Task Force (ATF) research project which is seeking to determine how adding weight to the fishing line effects the catch rates of...

After attending the 1st World Seabird Conference in Canada in September, I got back to South Africa and headed straight out to sea. It was absolutely wonderful to be sailing out to sea under a bright full moon, although the swells were still huge after a recent cold front. We started fishing about...

For over 30 years Bruce Pearson , a professional artist, has worked on a range of themes to convey his enthusiasm for wildlife and especially birds, giving a sense of wonder to the wild places they inhabit. More recently he has focused some of his time on developing creative links between art and conservation...

After many years of waiting, my dream finally came true...I got given the opportunity to go to Marion Island! The three week trip was to take a construction team down to put the finishing touches on the new base. The voyage up to the island took 6 days and included two that were very stormy, true...

Hello Albatross supporters! A lot has happened since my last diary entry. As I mentioned in some of my previous entries the highest priority of the South African longline team for 2010 is to determine the effect using extra weight on fishing gear has on the catch rate of tuna and swordfish. We hope...

On a recent trip in early June, we had a few extra “little crew members” join us. Four pintado petrels joined us on the vessel when they got entangled with some of the fishing gear and got a bit greasy. Washing, feeding and caring for these four little birds proved to be an excellent platform...

The last two mont hs have been quite hectic. The work has been great fun and really rewarding capped by a really good sea trip at the end of May. I continued with the tori line experiments that I have been doing for the last nine months. This work has proved to be really successful showing fishermen...

Last week I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity (along with a member of WWF’s Responsible Fisheries Programme) to spend a few days at sea on the South African Government’s offshore patrol vessel. This trip was very different from my normal trips onboard the commercial fishing vessels...