Blogs

Chile has great potential to be recognized as a "hotspot" for marine biodiversity, including seabirds that can be found in its waters. Thanks to a long and complex geography, Chile has water bodies in the Humboldt Current, ocean environments of Polynesia, as well as the far southern fjords...

Apart from being at sea, one of the aspects of ATF work that interests me is improving our understanding of the social and cultural aspects of people’s behaviour toward biodiversity. A fundamental requirement for any conservation project is for the local community to understand the effect of...

Our work in the ATF generally brings us into close contact with the community, without which we would not be able to explain the phenomenon of seabird bycatch and our mission to reduce the impact on vulnerable species (see here for an example ). During these activities we always share our experiences...

In Chile we recently took part in the XXXII Congress of Marine Sciences, organized by the Marine Sciences Society and the University of Magallanes. This annual event brings together all the disciplines related to the ocean, and on this occasion we presented our work with albatross and fisheries. We...

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...

I’ve recently started working with the Task Force in Chile and I am delighted to have this opportunity as I know Chilean fisheries inside out and I believe that we really need to make a big effort to reduce seabird mortality, so it is great to be part of the ATF. I've been lucky enough to...

The problem of incidental seabird mortality in fisheries is a global concern. The interaction is exacerbated as the areas of high productivity targeted by marine fisheries are also the key foraging grounds for many seabirds, creating a strong overlap between humans and these vulnerable marine vertebrates...

The last few months have seen several reports in local and international press of dead birds on beaches of central Chile. Specifically, a mass mortality of sea birds was recorded in May on the shores of the town of Rocas de Santo Domingo . The first reports mentioned some 2,000 dead seabirds within four...

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...