Hi again - 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 in terms of sea temperatures and the currents that influence the species found and affected by this fishery.
Fortunately, we didn't catch a single bird, dead or alive! It's my first trip with no casualties. We did get two turtles but they were de-hooked onboard and released alive.
Although there were always birds around the boat, the skipper said he never uses the tori line and he never catches birds (which was proved to be right).
Anyway, as the tori line is part of the permit conditions and since they do fish sometimes in places where a lot of birds forage, I gave them a tori line and tested it at sea.
The skipper and crew were incredibly co-operative and did everything they could to help me with my work.
One juvenile Indian yellow-nosed albatross was photographed with a fishing line around his feet.
That's all for now...