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Yesterday Nahuel and I were with testing new improvements to the Tamini Tabla design, giving some final touches to the towed device which stabilizes and maintains bird-scaring lines in place during rough weather on trawl vessels. We expect this to be the final version! We made some changes in the...

The streamer line, also known as a bird-scaring or tori line is a mitigation measure that reduces seabird bycatch in longline fisheries. It is recommended that they be used in combination with night setting and line weighting. The efficiency of streamer lines has been demonstrated by our team in the...

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...

Last month I returned from my most recent trip, this time aboard on the FV Maria , the same longliner that I had worked with last winter. We spent 19 days at sea and conducted 15 longline sets. In order to minimize seabird interactions all these sets were performed with a tori line deployed and were...

This last trip to sea was onboard a vessel dedicated to catching swordfish and tuna. My goal was to continue experimenting with the tori lines we have been designing and testing in pelagic fisheries in Uruguay. We conducted seven fishing operations, three with a tori line and four without. Despite...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Aft er working the last year aboard trawlers I have now started to work on longline vessels that target deep-sea hake off the coast of Namibia . I have just completed a very successful first trip aboard the West Coast II. This vessel sets fishing lines up to 27 km long along the seabed. During the...

During the Southern Hemisphere summer, the Uruguayan swordfish fishery diminishes and several vessels reduce their number of sea trips. Only a single vessel remained active during January. This is a great opportunity for us to spread awareness about our work, taking to the fishing industry information...

I have just returned from my first adventure at sea for 2010. I must say, even though the weather and fishing was poor, I managed to see my favourite albatross of all – the GREAT ocean roamer: the wandering albatross ! It was a stunning, very snowy-white adult that really enjoyed circling close...

This last trip in November was a little adventurous, although it only lasted twelve days due to a dodgy generator causing a number of unexpected events onboard. We started the trip moving around more than normal, in the search for good fishing grounds. The swordfish were being elusive and simply refused...

Summer has arrived and with it the departure of many of our foraging albatrosses and petrels to their breeding islands in the southern Oceans around New Zealand, the storm-ravaged islands in the Roaring 40’s and South Georgia. These birds have been replaced by several species of seabirds that have...

We’ve had very exciting and excellent weather in Walvis Bay this month with dominant south-westerly winds creating ideal conditions for a variety of water-sports and the flocking of birds into the lagoon. Namibia has a closed season in the hake fishery every October with the primary aim of protecting...

At the end of September, I was invited by Rossing Uranium Limited, a large uranium mine that is owned by Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ), to present a talk to a group of secondary school students. They were taking part in the Rossing Bird Day. RTZ conducts this Birdlife partnered activity annually as part of their...

By deploying bird scaring lines (tori lines) from trawl vessels, seabirds are prevented from colliding dangerously, and often fatally with the trawl cables. To assess the performance of the tori lines in the Namibian fishery we are carrying out trials onboard commercial vessels and demonstrating their...

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’ve just returned from sea, it was a hard trip, but with a lot of positive energy and interesting results! We are currently working on a mitigation experiment that makes every trip a huge challenge. Each time we meet the challenge we are filled with motivation and enthusiasm to keep going and...

During this year our team has been trying out experiments to test the efficiency of tori lines . For a few months we were working on the design of the line that we were adapting to suit the fishery in Uruguay. As we already knew through our experiences onboard, the tori lines in can sometimes become...

My last trip at sea lasted 15 days and was aboard a vessel dedicated to fishing for swordfish; it was also one of the vessels that we chosen to test a tori line . This is for the experimental work that ATF Uruguay is carrying out this year. We set ten lines, five with and five without the tori line...

The big news from Namibia is that we have now begun our research project, and flown the first ever bird-scaring tori lines on a trawler in Namibia. This honour fell to the MFV Fisherbank belonging to Hangana, a Namibian company that has been very supportive of our work. The crew were fantastic, and...

Tori lines (or bird-scaring lines) are one of the measures most commonly used to reduce seabirds from being accidentally killed by longline vessels. In previous years we have undertaken trips on Uruguayan longline vessels to get crews to use them. Unfortunately, we've found that some tori lines...

Three days have already gone by since we left the harbour, and I'm realizing that I have a great relationship with this crew - they are a respectful and polite bunch. And with sea conditions also pretty good, it is so nice to have left the harbour and not have to face a turbulent sea! On this...