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The process of spreading awareness of seabird bycatch in fisheries and the work of the ATF is a topic that is very rewarding, especially when ATF instructors from other countries are able to come and share their experiences. The ATF recently organised the first Seabird Bycatch Symposium in Chile as...

From the 30 th November to the 2 nd December 2010, the ATF in Argentina and the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata -CONICET organised the second intensive observer training course for Indentification and Recording of Seabird Interactions with Fisheries. The course was intended for fishery...

At this time of year in the southern hemisphere you can enjoy a stroll along the harbour and, in the evening, watch the vessels gently roll in with their ice boxes full of fish as they arrive to the bustling activity of the port. Over the last week I’ve been dedicating my work to this peasant...

I’m leaving for sea tomorrow on a tuna boat, hoping to have a good trip and that what I learn will be of use for the conservation of the seabirds we are working to protect. This trip is an experiment to investigate the efficiency of an under-water setting capsule to reduce, and possibly...

Recently I returned from my first trip working with the Albatross Task Force aboard the pelagic longline vessel “Maria Letícia”, from Torquato Pontes Fish Company. This boat sailed under captain Celso, a very experienced captain who specializes in catching tunas. Captain Celso...

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...

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...

Back in July, we set sail from the port of Coquimbo in Chile with the challenge of studying mitigation measure design and the associated reduction of seabird bycatch. Historically, bycatch has been particularly high on the vessel that I have now joined for the next three months. This has been due, we...

I was recently invited by the International School to give a talk to their students about my work - a brilliant opportunity as many of the kids have parents involved in the fishing industry. In fact, my invitation came about because two of the senior students had done a project about a year ago on...

Hi everyone, It has been a very busy winter here in Cape Town with lots of rain and cold weather, but summer is coming, along with some changes. We have moved to a new office close to the harbour - a major upgrade, and it makes life so much easier when the boats are round the corner. Thanks to Cape Bird...

During the last few weeks, we have been working onshore on a variety of activities with individual fishermen, fishing companies and governmental representatives. Following two trips on the Sirius III, a 60-metre 'fresh' trawler (which keeps the catch on ice), we have been arranging a trip...

Hi everybody. My name is John Paterson and I am the first Albatross Task Force Instructor to be based in Namibia. I have been tasked to work with the hake trawl fishery in Namibia and a second Instructor is to be recruited to work with the hake longline fishery. This is all new and exciting for...

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...

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...

The year started with a big decrease in the numbers of longline fishing vessels active in the swordfish fishery in Chile. Currently there are now five vessels at-sea and two industrial freezer ships waiting to leave port. That gives us a total of just seven vessels. As each vessel prepared to leave...

The 2007 fishing season is finishing! As the Christmas holidays are coming, the vessels are finishing the last trip of the year. During the year each vessel completes around 11 fishing cruises. From March until September, they fish around the Brazilian Continental Shelf, off the Santa Catarina and...

I have been on the high seas fishing vessel Tami S II. It is the largest and most modern longliner of the Chilean pelagic fleet. This factory freezer vessel is 53 m long and can remain at sea for three to four month periods, setting lines of 60 nautical miles, each holding over 1,700 baited hooks. ...

The longline vessel 'Portugal II' sailed from the port of Coquimbo (30°S) on the 19th July, with a course set for Robinson Crusoe Island (33°40'S, 78°50'W) on the Juan Fernandez Archipelago. After three days steaming in rough weather and winds up to 30 knots, we anchored...

Last month we said goodbye to a special person, colleague, friend, albatross admirer, Samantha Petersen, who left the Albatross Task Force (ATF) after four years of managing BirdLife South Africa Marine Programme, most of the time being the only one on the team. On a personal note, Sam was the one...

When I had started here, working in seabird conservation, I had never even seen an albatross before, never been on a fishing boat before - the challenge was unknown to me. Now, almost two years down the line, I can safely say that I have achieved what very few people who work in conservation can say...

My God... let me tell you that this is not an easy job... it really is not, but it must be done with courage, persistence and with good heart. I persist with the local fishermen and captains in order to instruct them why they should adopt the tori lines and the other mitigation measures. It is hard...

Barry and I spend as much time on deck as possible. Our main work is monitoring interactions between seabirds and the two warp cables at the stern. To do this, we sit for hours on end on the 'catwalk', a raised metal gantry above the stern of the boat. Barry's work has shown that it is...

After the trip to Namibia in October where we learnt from interviewing skippers that seabird bycatch may be a problem, we decided to head back and continue what we had started. Now it was time to go to sea and see what really happens there. I spent four weeks in the town of Luderitz in southern Namibia...

I have returned finally, from what seemed like a lifetime at sea and on foreign soil. Three trips were conducted on Eros, a hake longliner for Talhado Fisheries, with the help of very committed men on land and at sea. I've now completed seabird fatality data collection on board hake longline vessels...

Mid-October saw me giving two presentations to skippers and industry representatives about how to prevent albatross deaths in the South African hake trawl fishery. The venue was Cape Town and four fishing companies were represented. Seabirds are attracted to vessels to feed on discards from processed...