Good fishing...
We are a little below parallel of 30º S next to the meridian 48º W. The sea is in such a hard way and we are sailing in direction to a cold front that approaches.
The unusual meeting with another longline fishing vessel, also from Itajaí Port, the FV Ipe VI, brought a very interesting subject relative to another mitigation measure - the 'night setting' of longlines.
Speaking with Mr. Rogerio, the skipper of Akira, I commented that other skippers used the night setting in order to minimize the capture of seabirds in longline. I questioned the reason why he was not setting lines at night (he starts the setting around 4 o'clock in afternoon), considering that such mitigation measure is known as a very effective measure.
The skipper explained that this measure, even efficient, is hardly used by vessels that operate with equipment operated at longer than 20 nautical miles, because, usually longline setting finished in the middle of the night. If setting starts later, the crew have to work during all night and start the longline hauling early in the morning. This would be very tiring for the crew.
In the words of the master: 'we do everything we can (in relation to preserve the seabirds), but my crew comes first'. I always see each crew as a great family; in this case what I see is a zealous father trying to make the best for all.
As FV Akira operates with 37 nautical miles of longline, it is really difficult using such measure, but it means that the use of tori line and making bait less visible to albatrosses by dyeing it blue is a more relevant bird-saving device in cases such as this.