When we were defining our annual work programme in Chile we were keen to maintain a link with the community, beyond that of the fishing industry. In fact, we have always strived to extend the information about seabird bycatch and albatross conservation to the public in general.
As such we decided to end the year, having completed the last at-sea trips of 2011, by sharing our experiences with two important components of society. The first of these two activities was with students from the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (in the city of Concepción), with an emphasis on the future marine biologists (see image below).
The second activity involved the social groups that are linked to environmental protection in Talcahuano. This was special in many ways as we gave the talks in an encampment at Caleta el Morro, a site that was created by the people who lost their homes to the great earthquake and tsunami that hit Chile on the 27th February 2010.
Despite the terrible experience that this community lived through, we found an audience that was extremely interested in the topics we presented and who actively shared opinions on the concepts of bycatch (see image below). The community enjoyed hearing about our work to reduce the effects of fisheries on albatross and petrels and they clearly consider albatrosses and petrels to be part of Chilean natural heritage.
Meanwhile, Luis Cabezas the ATF project leader in Chile was interviewed by local newspapers to explain further the work of the ATF along the Chilean coast. This represents an important platform to reach the homes of the community in the regions where we are active.
The interest in the novelty of our work with mitigation measures has been such that the local newspaper ‘El diario de Concepción’ published a caricature in the humour section of the paper inspired by the work the ATF is conducting at sea in Chile (bird-scaring line in Spanish directly translates as ‘scarecrow’ - see image below).
Curiously, this caricature was well received by the community and apart from being a humorous component of the paper, also reinforced the work of the ATF in a friendly manner helping spread awareness in the community. In fact, personally I found that people really understood and engaged with the ATF project which makes me feel really happy and gives me the sensation that we are doing a good job.
This has definitely been a great year; we started our work in the central-southern zone of Chile and found strong alliances and friends, especially Patricio Ortiz from CODEFF (BirdLife Partner in Chile) and his family as well as the entire community, including all the people who live in close contact with the ocean, the universities and passionate social groups.
ATF Chile is proud to have conducted these activities with the communities that have been hit so strongly by the forces of nature, but who are showing great fortitude to move onwards and rebuild their lives. We dedicate all our achievements to them, especially as they showed such interest and emotion to help protect what is to them and us an irreplaceable natural heritage – the seabirds.
I recently returned from a routine Albatross Task Force at-sea trip onboard a conventional wet fish trawl vessel in Argentina (fish are stored on ice, but not frozen like on the larger freezer vessels). The trip lasted a total of 16 days and fishing was concentrated around 300 km east of the Valdéz Peninsula, where I carried out various different initiatives in relation to seabird conservation and fisheries.
Specifically, I was studying the impacts between seabirds and trawl warp cables, counting the number of times seabirds collide with or are struck by the cables that tow the fishing nets during the trawl. I was also monitoring the birds that become entangled with the fishing nets when they are brought to the surface, or when the gear is deployed again for the next haul.
This fleet sets and hauls the nets over the starboard side of the vessel, quite different from other fleets which haul via an aft ramp. The side hauling operation makes this fishery similar to purse-seine fisheries in some respect as the net remains floating at the surface of the water while the catch is unloaded from the cod end (see image below).
The most vulnerable birds in this operation are the diving petrels and shearwaters, the White-chinned petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis), Great shearwater (Puffinus gravis) and Sooty shearwater (Puffinus griseus) all become entangled in the mesh of the trawl nets.
During this trip only a single White-chinned petrel was caught, but the crew told of multiple entanglements during certain times of the year. The presence of the ATF in this fleet will be fundamental to help understand and mitigate this interaction.
During all operations we conduct seabird counts to determine the abundance and diversity of seabirds that accompany the vessels in each fleet. What caught my attention this trip was the relatively low abundance of seabirds – typically we see over 2,000 birds per operation but this trip I only counted an average of 500 birds. This is due to the time of year and the characteristics of the fleet. However there were large numbers of marine mammals in the area including Peales’ dolphin (Lagenorhynchus australis), Dusky dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) and the enormous Southern Right whale (Eubalaena australis).
Skuas and Jaegers (Catharacta antárctica, Stercorarius pomarinus and S. longicaudus) were also present but the most important sighting was that of several Shy albatross (Thalassarche cauta) which are tricky to separate at-sea from White-capped albatross (Thalassarche steadi) - can you tell which of the two species is in the photo below?.
Many of these species are on the Red List of endangered species (IUCN 2011) and so their presence around, and interaction with fishing vessels is of great importance. It was the first time that the ATF in Argentina had recorded these species foraging within the ‘danger zone’ (the area directly between the trawl warp cables) and this time I am pleased to say there was no impact between the birds and the fishing gear.
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 started at night. Despite the constant presence of albatrosses and petrels during the operations we performed another trip with no seabird bycatch, showing the fishermen again that it is possible and easy if they are just willing to make the effort.
During this trip the catch of target species (tuna) was not very good, and because of this we navigated a lot searching for fish. We travelled from 31° to 34° S, and in water depths from 500 m to more than 4,000 m deep, at least 250 nautical miles off the coast.
Hearing from my colleagues Sebastián Jiménez and Martin Abreu, from Uruguay, I noted the similarities between seabird information reported by them and my own observations at sea in Brazil during the same period of the year (October/November).
According to Sebastián they observed a peak of Wandering albatrosses between September and November in Uruguayan waters, and during my trip last month I was surprised by number of Wandering Albatrosses*, at least 16 were attending the vessel at the same time, many more than the maximum of seven I have seen during winter months.
Martin observed a total of 23 species during his last trip, including the Sooty albatross. Coincidently, during my last trip, I observed 24 species, including not only the uncommon Sooty (Phoebetria fusca), but also the Light-mantled albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata). That was the first time I have seen such a rare species in Brazilian waters, and was a surprise for me to know that Martin also observed this albatross in Uruguay at the same time.
These observations reinforce the similarities between the southern Brazilian and Uruguayan waters, in the same way that similarities exist between the terrestrial ecosystems, and even between the culture of southern Brazil and our neighbouring country.
This reminds us that the division of the sea is purely political, and only through international cooperation can we achieve success in albatross conservation.
*In fact, some of the “Wandering albatross” observed could be Tristan albatross, as these two species are virtually indistinguishable at sea.
The Volvo Ocean Race has worked closely with the Save the Albatross Campaign since 2005, helping to increase awareness around the global plight of albatrosses. The Save the Albatross Campaign was initiated to inform and demonstrate to fishermen how to prevent incidental mortality of these endangered birds. We, the Albatross Task Force form an important aspect of how the campaign functions.
This year the Volvo Ocean Race has allowed members of the Albatross Task force to have a presence at the race village in each of the ports where we operate. Cape Town is the first port where this has happened.
Each day morning we have 30 school children come and visit the stand where we give them a 10 minute lesson on what amazing birds the albatrosses are, the problems these birds face when they interact with our fisheries and some of the solutions we have to solve the problem. Many of the children we see have never even heard of albatrosses and are amazed when I bring out my tape measure to show them the enormity of an albatross’ wingspan (up to 3.5m). Our stand is open all day for members of the public to ask questions, get information about our work or to donate to the project. I was also lucky enough to be able to be given the opportunity to present a short talk on the work the ATF does locally to some of the team members of the race.
This year the Volvo Ocean Race has also launched a global campaign which is aiming to raise the awareness of the increasing volumes of pollution that is found in our oceans and threatens our marine life. They have a very effective and emotive video displaying the effect of pollution on albatrosses on one of their breeding islands (Midway Island). I think this is definitely going to have a very positive influence on anyone who views it.
Go and visit the Volvo Ocean Race website for more information or just to follow your favourite team (www.volvooceanrace.com). You can also keep a look out for the Volvo Ocean Race Game!
Last week, the ATF in Argentina sent a package to Ushuaia, where the fishing vessel Antartic III from fishing company Estremar S.A. was waiting. In the package were two sets of specially designed tori lines that resulted from ATF tests aboard the vessel this year.
The use of tori lines is now obligatory in this fishery, as established through a mandate from the Federal Fishery Council and the Fishery Undersecretary.
Our work began by searching for suitable and locally available materials and trying out different models of tori line in collaboration with the National Fishery Investigation and Development Institute (INIDEP) and local NGO Aves Argentinas. Once we had completed our final design, I took the first designs on a commercial fishing trip during February, March and April to test them out.
The picture displays the tori lines packaged and ready to send to the vessel, currently at anchor in the most southern city in the world.
Our results were very positive, as the design effectively reduces the amount of interactions between seabirds and the fishing gear (baited hooks) in this fishery, which implies a potential reduction in seabird mortality.
Parallel to this work onboard, we held meetings with the Vice President of the fishing company, Mr Marcelo Gonzalez, to gain support and collaboration for our work. Luckily, Estremar S.A. has proven to be a seabird friendly fishing company, and we were given all the help needed to carry out our experiments onboard.
Thanks to the good interpersonal relations between us and the company, it was possible to complete the research needed for the tori line design and now send these new models for use aboard. The tori lines should arrive in time for the vessel to use them throughout the next trip, and through continued contact with the crew and national observers we will be able to monitor the efficiency of the tori lines in reducing seabird mortality in the long-term.