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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...

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 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. ...

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...

I just got back from a trip on a South African longliner that targets swordfish and tuna. The trip was two and a half weeks long and took place off the west coast of South Africa. Five albatrosses were accidentally caught on the longline. Four of them were dead, as they were caught while the vessel was...