Diaries
Meidad Goren's diary
Indian yellow-nosed albatross
LATEST ENTRY
4 June 2008
As no birds were caught, I dedicated this trip to trying new data collection methods and learnt lots from it. We built and tried a tori line and Butie, the skipper, showed great spirit as he jumped up and down changing the boat's speed to my request.
PREVIOUS ENTRIES
12 March 2008
A major breakthrough in South Africa has seen the implementation of a precautionary seabird catch limit, which states that if a longliner kills 25 birds in total from the beginning of the calendar year, they must prove that they used the necessary mitigation measures required by law on every set, such as a bird scaring (tori) line and night setting.
8 January 2008
The time I spent in Brazil was amazing. It was the first time the South African ATF met with the Brazilians. Even though the language barrier sometimes seemed to stand in our way, we battled it through and worked hard to understand, teach and learn from each other.
31 August 2007
On the third day, we found eight dead birds on the line. It was very frustrating. As we set the line at night and used the tori the question was what had happened there? Why so many birds specifically on that set?
19 June 2007
Jose, the skipper, welcomed me with a big smile and a promise that we wouldn't catch any birds on this trip. I've heard these kind of promises before. But, this time, Jose kept his promise and we returned back to shore with empty bags - which is always excellent.
Monday 21 May
This time it was a short trip onboard a tuna boat which uses a different fishing method called pole-and-line. The idea is to steam towards the trawl and hake longline fishing grounds where tuna usually hang around, attracted to the discarded fish and offal.
Tuesday 27 February
I can honestly say the trip was successful. We didn't catch a single bird while another longliner who was fishing close to us caught three albatrosses.
Sunday 18 February
I have decided this time to write my diary live from sea. At the moment I am on my seventh day onboard the 'Saxon'. The good news is that after six fishing days no birds were caught. The birds are around and on the first day, to my delight I have managed to spot six species of albatrosses in one day.
Monday 11 December
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.
Tuesday 31 October
I have just spent a week in the wonderful town of Walvis Bay, Namibia.
Thursday 14 September
Boarding the vessel, I was welcomed by a warm crew and a nice surprise - one of our own tori lines was neatly packed, ready to be used.
Wednesday 23 August
I recently 'employed' my new 'Bird Officer' onboard the 'Atalanta', which is a South African tuna longliner. His name is Ali Hessein and he is the Second Engineer on the vessel.
Monday 24 July
The last trip was the shortest of the three trips - only 10 days. But it was very interesting as it was located on the north-east coast of South Africa, in an area very different to the west coast.
Thursday 22 June
Today the vessel which took me onboard last month came back from sea. I was asked to come and take one of the birds that were caught. It was a juvenile shy albatross - one of four caught during that trip.
Thursday 15 June
This week I am back on dry land. The last trip was tiring as we ended up staying out at sea a week longer than we anticipated as the skipper decided they needed to stay out until they had caught enough fish.
Friday 26 May
I just got back from a trip on a South African longliner that targets swordfish and tuna. The trip was two and a half weeks long and took place on the west coast of South Africa.
Thursday 18 May
I'm out at sea on a tuna longliner, where we will test streamer lines and different ways to get the lines and bait to sink faster, beyond the reach of the albatrosses
Friday 5 May
I met my first seabirds working as a scientific observer on fishing vessels off South Africa. Here I gained experience in interacting with crew members regarding bycatch problems. I was so impressed by these birds that when asked if I was interested in working for the Albatross Task Force, I didn't even think twice!
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