Blogs

Among the activities that we conduct as ATF instructors, working with the crew aboard fishing vessels is the most difficult to accurately quantify. We can identify a seabird to species or sub-species level, record the exact times of fishing operations, statistically demonstrate the efficiency of mitigation...

The European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) is a group of companies, which provide grants to support the environment. This year our very own Albatross Task Force has been selected as a candidate to win over £20,000 of funding in the ‘nature’ category. The project was nominated...

Hi everybody! Last month I returned from my last trip at-sea here in southern Brazil, on board a pelagic longliner. The cruise was amazing, and in addition to the success in obtaining data on our mitigation measure research, I experienced incredible and magic moments. The fishing area was the continental...

ProDelphinus observer Sergio explains how he got on during his most recent trip from Mancora, in northern Peru: At 7 o'clock in the evening, on the way to Mancora a local friend Braulio introduced me Mr. Carlos "Cumbia" Castillo who would be my captain on this trip. He said to me he...

More than five long years had passed since I was last in the austral Atlantic Ocean. Some of those years, spent in the arid Brazilian capital, had made these fifteen days aboard a longline vessel a learning experience of the real meaning of living at, and from the sea. The daily routines, the isolation...

Working aboard a hake longliner in Namibia is a tough life for everyone aboard. The hours are long and gruelling. I would say longline crew are amongst the hardest working people in Namibia and always battling against difficult sea conditions. I have just spent the last two weeks on board to compare...

This month I thought it would be a good idea to follow on from one of my Brazilian colleague’s diaries which highlighted the poor attitude of some fishermen towards seabirds. His diary can be found here , as a reminder of the problem. I have only ever seen one or two birds with broken bills...

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...

During the last month I was at-sea aboard a wet fish trawl vessel - a kind of trawler that keeps the catch fresh on ice instead of processing and blast-freezing like the industrial trawlers. We sailed out of the port in Mar del Plata where I live in the north east of Argentina. The crew were already...