Diaries
Peter Exley's diary
Peter Exley
In January 2007, I spent three weeks working with BirdLife South Africa's Albatross Task Force team in Cape Town, South Africa. I helped produce an advisory brochure on avoiding seabird mortality in the trawl industry, and spent a week aboard a demersal hake trawler monitoring the effectiveness of tori lines in reducing albatross deaths.
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Last-ditch birding
The trawler trip was a close-run thing. We had returned with just a day to spare before my flight home. But I've got one last mission before I go. On the last morning, I pick Peter Ryan up at 4.30 am, and we head east past Stellenbosch to Sir Lowry's Pass.
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The voyage home
On the sixth day, Captain Randy announces that we will trawl until dusk, and then head for home. Barry and I continue monitoring from the catwalk.
The impact of trawlers on albatrosses
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'.
Life on board
It takes a while to get used to life on board a working trawler. There is the constant rolling motion, with a 2-3 metre swell most days, sometimes 4-5 metres.
Off to sea - at last
Wednesday morning finds us in the BirdLife offices, when the phone goes. It is Barrie Rose. I can go, but I must let I&J review all my photos before I leave the country. I agree, put the phone down, and whoop for joy!
Black harriers and korhaans
Barry and I spend the next few days working on the brochure, and visiting various contacts in the trawler industry. The Task Force team have recently started looking at the Namibian fishery, and Barry introduces me to the head of the largest trawler company up there.
Ringing pelicans on Dassan Island
So, on to plan C. Peter Ryan, head of the Fitzpatrick Institute, tells me there's a trip going out tomorrow to Dassan Island to ring great white pelican chicks, would I like to go? Daft question!
Birding around Cape Town
So, plan B. I pick up the hire car that afternoon and head straight for Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, a wonderful collection of southern Africa's plant species in a beautiful location overlooking the broad suburbs of eastern Cape Town.
Trawling for albatrosses
Have you ever wondered what a thousand hungry albatrosses squabbling for food sounds like? Well, just a few weeks back I found out
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