By deploying bird scaring lines (tori lines) from trawl vessels, seabirds are prevented from colliding dangerously, and often fatally with the trawl cables. To assess the performance of the tori lines in the Namibian fishery we are carrying out trials onboard commercial vessels and demonstrating their use to the captains and crew.
The skipper, Mr. Hoffmann, was really interested. It was the first time he’d seen tori lines, although he was already aware of our work through our Albatross Task Force workshops. When accompanying me to the aft of the vessel to see my work he noticed how ‘the birds are only flying and foraging on the side where there is food’.
I showed him how the tori line works and he remarked on how they are easier to deploy than he thought and that and they are ‘very much important to reduce the impact rate’. The crew members, especially the boson, were also very interested. They commented that when there is a lot of discard loads of birds used to be close to the back of the boat but when the tori lines are deployed, they have seen a big difference and they think that this is really good work.
I was sharing the room with a fishery observer and the food I ate was really very delicious. All crew members were very friendly and were all very keen to know something that surprised me, almost all of them had the same question: ‘What is the economic importance of these seabirds? Are they edible?’ I explained about seabirds, their biology and conservation and provided reading materials for the crew.The brochures in Namibia are written in two languages, English and Oshiwambo, so we can distribute them to every crew member and further explain so that they all understand the work of Albatross Task Force in Namibia.
The performance of the tori lines amazed everybody; they all supported the idea of placing tori lines on every trawl vessel to protect seabirds in Namibia. This is another step forward in reducing the accidental mortality of seabirds; by making practical demonstrations like this we can really make a difference on each vessel.