On 14 August, I drove from Cape Town to Mossel Bay (a small port on our eastern Cape coast) through storm-ravaged countryside to join an inshore hake trawl vessel.
The following morning, Rowan the skipper welcomed me onboard his 15-metre, 48-tonne vessel with a crew of eight. I had a few trepidations looking at the small vessel, with more foul weather on the way. My bunk was at the back of the wheelhouse and we had no shower!
The rationale behind the trip was to trial the effectiveness of tori lines and their practicality on these smaller vessels. Setting and hauling is a much quicker process compared to the larger 50-metre trawlers I am more accustomed to, as we were fishing in 80-metre water depth.
140 white-chinned petrels and 80 shy albatrosses were foraging close to the stern on offal discards. None came close when the tori was deployed and it was a great opportunity to explain to the crew why tori lines became part of our permit conditions as of July 1 this year.
The crew were surprised to hear that birds like white-chinned petrels breed underground and, of course, the first question every fisherman asks me is 'what do they eat?'
The food - ours, that is - was outstanding, considering that the kitchen was in the order of one by two metres. Housewives, never complain about your kitchen again!
After four days, a cold front was on its way. However, I missed the 'lumpy seas' as I jumped off at Mossel Bay, when we took an injured crew member back to port.