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For this blog I am posting on behalf of my friend and colleague Rodrigo Forselledo: Rodrigo wrote the following: As Sebastian is enjoying a short period in the UK, I have taken on his ATF duties in Uruguay. On my first pelagic longline trip I started testing the new design of the bird-scaring...

The Chilean National Plan of Action Seabirds states that bird-scaring lines must be used on all pelagic longline sets. However, despite good seabird conservation regulations for this fleet, many vessels still don’t use this mitigation measure. The Albatross Task Force has been working in collaboration...

The FV Joao N Castro leaves port today and I will be going with her. Over the past couple of months I have been preparing for this important trip, which is the first of a series of at-sea experimental trials to test new line-weighting in the demersal (bottom) longline fishery here in Namibia. The...

A few days ago I was in contact with a fishery observer who is at-sea aboard a longline vessel gathering biological data near Staten Island to the south of Argentina. This boat must now use mitigation measures; one of which is a bird-scaring line to reduce albatross mortality. The Federal Fisheries Council...

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...

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...

During my last trip I continued experimenting with the Uruguayan ATF tori lines that we are developing, trying to obtain a greater set of results so we can be certain of what solutions to recommend to industry. This brought up a personal milestone, achieving my 400th day at sea! I started as a sailor...