Last week, the ATF in Argentina sent a package to Ushuaia, where the fishing vessel Antartic III from fishing company Estremar S.A. was waiting. In the package were two sets of specially designed tori lines that resulted from ATF tests aboard the vessel this year.
The use of tori lines is now obligatory in this fishery, as established through a mandate from the Federal Fishery Council and the Fishery Undersecretary.
Our work began by searching for suitable and locally available materials and trying out different models of tori line in collaboration with the National Fishery Investigation and Development Institute (INIDEP) and local NGO Aves Argentinas. Once we had completed our final design, I took the first designs on a commercial fishing trip during February, March and April to test them out.
The picture displays the tori lines packaged and ready to send to the vessel, currently at anchor in the most southern city in the world.
Our results were very positive, as the design effectively reduces the amount of interactions between seabirds and the fishing gear (baited hooks) in this fishery, which implies a potential reduction in seabird mortality.
Parallel to this work onboard, we held meetings with the Vice President of the fishing company, Mr Marcelo Gonzalez, to gain support and collaboration for our work. Luckily, Estremar S.A. has proven to be a seabird friendly fishing company, and we were given all the help needed to carry out our experiments onboard.
Thanks to the good interpersonal relations between us and the company, it was possible to complete the research needed for the tori line design and now send these new models for use aboard. The tori lines should arrive in time for the vessel to use them throughout the next trip, and through continued contact with the crew and national observers we will be able to monitor the efficiency of the tori lines in reducing seabird mortality in the long-term.