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As an instructor with the Albatross Task Force in Argentina, I embarked for 45 days aboard a pelagic (mid-water) trawl vessel that targets whip-tailed hake, also known as "hoki" ( Macruronus magellanicus ). The ship sailed from the port city of Ushuaia - at the end of the world! On this...

A few days ago I was in contact with a fishery observer who is at-sea aboard a longline vessel gathering biological data near Staten Island to the south of Argentina. This boat must now use mitigation measures; one of which is a bird-scaring line to reduce albatross mortality. The Federal Fisheries Council...

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...

After a long wait my voyage on a demersal (bottom) longline vessel finally set out for a trip that will last over three weeks, sailing from the port of Ushuaia. I was delighted to find that this boat is very comfortable, with internet, LCD TVs and even a gym! Not something you find on most ATF trips...

From the 30 th November to the 2 nd December 2010, the ATF in Argentina and the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata -CONICET organised the second intensive observer training course for Indentification and Recording of Seabird Interactions with Fisheries. The course was intended for fishery...

At this time of year in the southern hemisphere you can enjoy a stroll along the harbour and, in the evening, watch the vessels gently roll in with their ice boxes full of fish as they arrive to the bustling activity of the port. Over the last week I’ve been dedicating my work to this peasant...

Our trips at-sea don’t always turn out to be happy experiences, and we don’t always achieve our objectives when we get onboard a vessel. My last sea-trip was testament to this. It began in Puerto Madryn from where many Argentinean trawler vessels weigh anchor. We set off on May 4 and sailed...

As my most recent trip on a trawl vessel started, we left the port of Mar del Plata into an enormous storm. However, I felt pretty good about everything and kept my thoughts to the task in hand. The trip took us back to the same fishing area that I visited last time, but the target species had changed...

After a couple of months working in the laboratory and carrying out tests on small vessels the great day arrives. I am to join a large industrial trawl vessel to try out the performance of the tori lines and the Tamini Tabla under commercial fishing conditions, and on exactly the kind of vessel this...