Blogs

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 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...

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...

I've just returned from a two and a half week trip onboard shark longliner. The shark longline fleet in South Africa is pretty small, only 3-4 vessels, which mainly fish for mako sharks. The gear set up of the vessel is slightly different but the fishing techniques are very similar to the swordfish...

Hi albatross fans! It's been a long time since the last time I wrote. Too much 'dry land' business which confined me to my mother city. However, we had a visit from Ben Sullivan, manager of the Global Seabird Programme. It was really great to finally meet the guy who runs the show. Lots...

Peter Exley, from the RSPB, had chosen to come to Cape Town for his sabbatical. He is helping me to produce an awareness brochure on conserving seabirds in the South African hake trawl fishery. Meeting him at the airport, it was clear after several minutes of chat that he was as keen as mustard to get...

Barry and I spend as much time on deck as possible. Our main work is monitoring interactions between seabirds and the two warp cables at the stern. To do this, we sit for hours on end on the 'catwalk', a raised metal gantry above the stern of the boat. Barry's work has shown that it is...

After the trip to Namibia in October where we learnt from interviewing skippers that seabird bycatch may be a problem, we decided to head back and continue what we had started. Now it was time to go to sea and see what really happens there. I spent four weeks in the town of Luderitz in southern Namibia...

Earlier this month, I returned from Hobart, Tasmania, where I had attended the annual Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and had some very interesting chats about conservation. Then, it was back to business on a wet-fish trawler. From Cape Town, we headed up the west...