My research investigating the effect of line weighting on target catch has been the major part of my efforts in 2009. It took me several months’ preparation before we were ready and I went on my first research trip onboard “my vessel”. I had prepared and set up specially configured fishing lines and equipment to use along with the ship’s normal gear.
I now really feel like this vessel is my second home, having done seven previous trips with them. Expectations were high, but I soon learned that doing research on fishing boats whilst they are struggling to catch fish for their living is not an easy task! Even though I tried to cover every corner and eliminate every problem that might come up, I discovered that unexpected issues just keep on popping up.
The Albatross Task Force has good experience with these issues – it is what we do! We have dedicated considerable time to these difficulties, which are typical of any work at-sea, and making allowances for when things go wrong. You get as much done as possible on each trip and every time you learn a new lesson. Now I’m waiting for the next trip!
Our goal is to see is whether line weighting affects the catches of fish. This way we can encourage fishermen to increase the speed they sink the line so albatrosses and other seabirds won’t have enough time to grab baited hooks. If there is no effect of line weighting on fish catch, we can push for heavier lines.
Amongst the struggle to collect the data correctly, there are always some highlights. Last trip, whilst fishing very close to Namibia, I managed to photograph two ringed Tristan albatrosses. These close cousins of the magnificent wandering albatross breed only on Gough Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. They are classified as critically endangered and, as well as the threat of longliners, they suffer from predation by mice on their breeding island.
Since it is impossible to separate them from the wandering albatross at-sea, very little is known of their at-sea distribution, but we do know they are caught by longline vessels. One day I counted 16 albatrosses around my boat, two of them were definitely Tristan’s (they carried coloured rings). I later found out that one of them, an adult male, was raising a chick back in Gough and was probably foraging before going back to the nest to feed the chick. Fortunately for the birds (and the hungry chick), we used tori lines, set at night and used weights twice as heavy. No birds were killed!!!
So now I’m waiting for the guys to go to sea and maybe I’ll see my giant friends again…